Pope Francis said on Saturday that building walls, occupying territories, and religious fanaticism would never bring peace to the Middle East.

Pope Francis prays for peace in the Middle East before the relics of St. Nicholas of Bari, which are kept in the Pontifical Basilica dedicated to the saint venerated by both Catholic and Orthodox Christians.

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— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) July 7, 2018

Speaking at the end of a summit of Christian religious leaders, Francis also repeated his view that the “status quo” of the contested city of Jerusalem should be respected, and backed a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, reported Reuters.

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He said:

“Truces maintained by walls and displays of power will not lead to peace, but only the concrete desire to listen and to engage in dialogue will. Let there be an end to the few profiting from the sufferings of many. No more occupying territories and thus tearing people apart”.

Pope Francis said on Saturday that building walls, occupying territories and religious fanaticism would never bring peace to the Middle East.

from Reuters: World News https://t.co/DMse5AYPby
Pope says walls, occupation, fundamentalism block Mideast pea… https://t.co/bhzsyYLhJU

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He said every community in the Middle East should be protected, “not simply the majority,” and took a swipe at weapons procurement, saying:

“You cannot speak of peace while you are secretly racing to stockpile new arms”.

(MEMO, PC, Social Media)