Vatican diplomat urges support for UN relief organization for Palestinian refugees
November 18, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: A leading Vatican diplomat called on the international community to support the UN’s relief agency for Palestinian refugees, the UNRWA, following an Israeli ban.
“The Agency is providing vital assistance in areas such as healthcare, food aid and education to over 5 million Palestinian refugees in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan,” Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, said at a UN committee meeting on November 15.
“Therefore, the Holy See urges the international community to continue supporting UNRWA’s activities,” he continued. “At the same time it calls on the Agency to remain politically neutral, impartial and effective, with its actions firmly grounded in the principles of human dignity and universal human rights.”
Archbishop Caccia also renewed the Holy See’s condemnation of Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel and again called for the release of Israeli hostages. At the same time, he added:
The Holy See expresses profound concern at the catastrophic humanitarian crisis currently unfolding in the Gaza Strip. The ongoing conflict has caused an extensive loss of life, including the deaths of thousands of innocent Palestinians, many of them children. In addition, hundreds of thousands of families have been forcibly displaced, particularly from the northern Gaza Strip, resulting in a lack of shelter, food, and basic necessities.The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original source (link above). About CWN news coverage.
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