And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly
wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. Revelation 13:3
"Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan phoned Pope Francis Monday
morning, inciting the pontiff to punish Israel for its "attacks against
Palestine" by "mobilizing the Christian world and the international
community."
Pope Francis met Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in the
Vatican's Apostolic Palace soon after the phone call with Erdoğan.
The
duo discussed Palestine, interfaith dialogue and U.S. sanctions during a
"wonderful audience," Zarif disclosed on Twitter.
Refusing to call "Jerusalem" by its ancient Biblical and historical
name, the Turkish president referred to the City by its Islamic
nomenclature — Al-Quds — in his phone call with pope.
Francis will not take sides on the issue, it is understood, even
though he is ideologically inclined to support Muslims and naïve about
the existential threat Hamas posed to Israel, as well the problem of
anti-Semitism in Islamic texts.
Francis' long-standing friendship with Argentinian Rabbi Abraham
Skorka since the days when he was Cdl. Jorge Bergoglio and with whom the
pope co-authored the book On Heaven and Earth: Pope Francis on Faith, Family, and the Church in the Twenty-First Century, is one reason cited for the pope's apparent neutrality." CM