Pope Francis met with European rabbis on Monday and decried antisemitism, war and terrorism in a written speech he declined to read, saying he wasn't feeling well. Francis told the rabbis during the audience in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace that he was very happy to receive them, but added: “I’m not feeling well, and so I prefer not to read the speech but give it to you, so you can take it with you." In his prepared speech to the rabbis, Francis said his first thought and prayers goes “above all else, to everything that has happened in the last few weeks," a clear reference to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel, including the taking away of hostages to the Gaza Strip, and the ensuing Israeli-Hamas war. “Yet again violence and war have erupted in that Land blessed by the Most High, which seems continually assailed by the vileness of hatred and the deadly clash of weapons," Francis wrote in the speech. With France, Austria and Italy among the countries in Europe recently seeing a spate of antisemitic vandalism and slogans, Francis added: “The spread of antisemitic demonstrations, which I strongly condemn, is also of great concern.” The pontiff said believers in God are called to build “fraternity and open paths of reconciliation for all.” For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective of growing anti-Semitism across the globe, FRANCE 24's François Picard is joined by Jean-Yves Camus, Co-director of the Observatory of Political Radicalism at the Jean Jaures Foundation and Researcher at The French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS).
