The supreme leader of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, the envoy of Pope Francis, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, declared on Monday that he would be willing to exchange himself for the Israeli children held hostage by Hamas and held in Gaza, neokohn.hu reports .
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Patriarch of Jerusalem, made his comments during a video conference with journalists in Italy in response to a question.
“I'm ready to trade, anything, if it leads to the freedom to bring the children home. No problem. I am completely open"
- He told.
"First of all, we must try to get the hostages released, otherwise there will be no way to stop the escalation. We are willing to help, even me personally"
- said Pizzaballa.
At the same time, he emphasized that he and his office had no direct contact with Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,300 people.
"You can't talk to Hamas. It's very difficult"
- He told.
Hamas took about 200 people hostage, more than a dozen of them children.
Pizzaballa oversees Roman Catholic activities in Israel and the Palestinian territories, as well as Jordan and Cyprus. An estimated 300,000 Roman Catholics live in the region.
Photo: Italian language page of Vatican News
