Pope hails extension of truce in Yemen
By Linda Bordoni
Pope Francis on Sunday expressed satisfaction for a two-month extension of a truce in war-stricken Yemen.
Speaking after the Regina Coeli prayer, and after having appealed for concrete negotiations to find a solution to the war in Ukraine, the Pope said he is happy to hear that a two-month truce between the Yemeni government and the country’s Houthi rebels has been extended.
“Thanks be to God and to you! I hope that this sign of hope can be a further step to put an end to that bloody conflict that has generated one of the worst humanitarian crises of our days,” he said.
The fighting erupted in 2014 when Iran-backed Houthi rebels descended from their northern enclave of Sadah and took over the capital of Sanaa, forcing the government to flee. A Saudi-led coalition entered the war in early 2015 to try to restore the government to power.
More than 377,000 are estimated to have died during the conflict that has caused the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
“Please,” Pope Francis continued,“let us not forget to think of the children, the children of Yemen: hunger, destruction, lack of education, lack of everything.”
Prayer for landslide victims in Recife, Brazil
Pope Francis also turned his attention to those affected by extreme weather events in Brazil, assuring his prayers "for the victims of the landslides caused by the torrential rains that occurred in the metropolitan region of Recife."
Over 100 people have been killed in flooding and landslides triggered by torrential rain in northeastern Brazil. Officials said some are still missing. Thousands of houses and shacks have been washed away.
Beatification in Beirut of two Capuchin martyrs
The Pope also recalled the Beatification on Saturday of two Capuchin Friars Minor in Beirut.
They are Blessed Leonardo Melki and Blessed Thomas George Sale, priests and martyrs, killed in hatred of the faith in Turkey in 1915 and 1917, respectively.
"Let their example strengthen our Christian witness," he concluded, noting that they were both young – not even 35 years old – and asking for an applause for the new Blesseds.
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