One year after the attack perpetrated by Hamas in Israel, Pope Francis addressed a letter on Monday, October 7, to Catholics in the Middle East and to men and women of all faiths who suffer from "the madness of war.

In a letter on the anniversary of the October 7 attacks in the Middle East, Pope Francis calls for an end to conflict and a dialogue of peace.

As fighting in the Middle East intensified and spread, Pope Francis turned to Mary, begging her to "intercede for our world in danger."

Pope Francis, in a letter to the Catholics of the Holy Land has hit out at the international community over its inability to silence the guns and stop the bombs that are exploding over

In a brief press conference on the plane returning from Belgium, Pope Francis answered questions including one on Israel’s targeted killings in Lebanon and Gaza, and others related to his meeting with abuse victims in Brussels, the role of women in society and the reason why he thinks the former Belgian King Baudouin should be canonized.

Pope Francis expresses sorrow over the expanding war that has now reached "martyrized" Lebanon and called for "an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon, Gaza, the rest of Palestine, and Israel."

Earlier in September, the pope called Israel's actions in Lebanon "unacceptable" and urged the international community to do everything possible to halt the fighting. In his letter on Monday, Francis directly addressed Gazans: "I am with you,

Pope Francis slammed the international community's "shameful inability" to end the violence sparked by Hamas's October 7 attacks on Israel on the first anniversary of them in a letter to the Middle East's Catholics on Monday.

Pope Francis called for a day of prayer and to mark the anniversary of the Hamas massacre in southern Israel with an "appeal for peace in the world." “In this dramatic hour of our history,” Vatican News cited the Pope saying,