Pope Francis urges nations to seek peace and end wars

Pope Francis called for peace in his first in-depth interview with an American media outlet.

CBS News teased a clip of the hourlong interview that will air Sunday. Anchor Norah O’Donnell asked the head of the Catholic Church about the various conflicts happening across the world, from Israel combating Hamas to Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine.

“Please. Countries at war, all of them, stop the war. Look to negotiate. Look for peace,” Francis said. “A negotiated peace is better than a war without end.”

Francis said he is praying for such a peace to be negotiated. He claimed he hears from Palestinians about their situation in Gaza as Israel is fighting Hamas.

“It’s very hard,” Francis said. “Very, very hard. And food goes in, but they have to fight for it.”

Hamas invaded southern Israel over 200 days ago. World leaders have since called on the terrorist group to release the 134 hostages in its custody. Hamas exchanged hostages during a ceasefire last November for Palestinians in Israeli prisons who allegedly committed crimes. The terrorist group abruptly ended the agreed-upon pause early by launching missiles at Israel.

As the Vatican is gearing up for its first World Children’s Day next month, Francis expressed his concern for Ukrainian children.

“Those kids don’t know how to smile,” Francis said. “I tell them something, but they forgot how to smile. And this is very hard when a child forgets to smile. That’s really very serious. Very serious.”

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Ukraine is more than two years into the conflict that began when Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops to invade its eastern and southern border. Putin has since claimed to have annexed the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson regions.

The pope is 87 but said he was in good health. He has been using a wheelchair since 2022 and has performed many of the Catholic Church’s Easter rites this year without leaving his wheelchair.