At the end of the general audience of December 13, the Holy Father made yet another appeal to end the suffering in the Holy Land:
I renew my appeal for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire; there is so much suffering there. I encourage all parties involved to resume negotiations and call on everyone to make an urgent commitment to get humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, who are at the breaking point and really need it.
Let all the hostages, who had seen hope in the truce a few days ago, be freed immediately. Let this great suffering for Israelis and Palestinians end.
Please: no to weapons, yes to peace!
And today we celebrate...