Israel – Hamas War: Cardinal Chomalí offers Pope Leo XIV his mediation for dialogue

Cardinal Fernando Chomalí Garib, Archbishop of Santiago de Chile and grandson of Palestinian immigrants, formally offered Pope Leo XIV to collaborate with any mediation or dialogue carried out by the Catholic Church to end the war between Israel and Hamas in the Holy Land.

The cardinal met this Monday, October 20, with Pope Leo in the Vatican, in an audience in which they discussed various issues in Chile and the conflict that has plagued the Middle East for just over two years.

“I was honest with the Pope, I told him that I was the grandson of migrants, that my four grandparents were migrants, that for me the situation in the Middle East in general, in Gaza in particular, everywhere, causes me a lot of pain, causes me a lot of helplessness,” said the archbishop in an interview with Tele 13 Radio.

On Sunday the 19th, Israel launched a new wave of attacks against Gaza – a week after signing a ceasefire – accusing Hamas of breaking the truce and shooting at its soldiers, killing two of them, it said. The New York Times.

The Chilean cardinal asked Pope Leo

“I believe that the need for a Palestinian state has to occur, something that the Holy See has said a hundred times, and that I was very willing to offer myself because in Chile there are hundreds of thousands of descendants of Palestine who have their eyes fixed on this situation that generates a lot of pain,” the cardinal stressed.

The war in the Holy Land, the archbishop lamented, “has generated an incision in the Palestinian and Jewish community in Chile that has been tremendously painful because it has been something that had not occurred before, therefore I offered myself with the sacrifice that he wanted to be able to collaborate to end this war.”

The Pope, he continued, “was very surprised. Obviously the Holy See can generate good offices, it has offered, and I told him to count on me as well as the entire Palestinian community.”

“I think that was something that came from my heart, I broke down at some point, because what you see happening is already painful,” he concluded.

The conversion of hearts

“I think the most important thing is the conversion of hearts, of all the institutions, of all the groups that believe that with violence they are going to achieve something. With violence nothing is achieved, violence only generates more violence,” said Cardinal Chomalí on the issue of peace in the Holy Land, in an interview with ACI Prensa in January 2025.

Speaking about the possibility of having two states, the archbishop of Santiago then said that “that would be a tremendously important step and I think that is what the vast majority of Palestinians are waiting for. I also think that a great majority of Israelis are waiting for it who are also not happy with the situation they have experienced.”

Democracy, defense of life and immigration in Chile

In the interview with Tele 13 yesterday, the cardinal shared that on Saturday the 18th, the cardinal took possession of the San Mauro Abad parish, on the outskirts of Rome, where the faithful “were very charming with all the Chileans who were there, who were priests, bishops, lay people, it was a very fraternal meeting.”

The cardinal also commented that he was able to talk with Pope Leo XIV about the recent visit made to him by the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, “and I told him that his apostolic exhortation had penetrated very deeply (I loved youabout love for the poor) to the point that the president “gave businessmen “a class on the Social Doctrine of the Church on how to overcome poverty and the problems that exist at the moment.”

He also told him that “we had very big differences with the president regarding abortion and euthanasia; and that they had discussed this and that we will continue (…) to give our opinion, to show (…) that they are not appropriate laws for the country.”

In this regard, he said, the Holy Father commented that “this discrepancy is more than obvious and that we had to continue showing the beauty of the Church’s teaching.”

“We also made him see that we were concerned about the view that some people have regarding migration, regarding certain policies, which could greatly divide society because there are thousands of migrants who provide an important service in Chile, who are integrating into Chilean society, and who have to have the full right to be a citizen.”

The cardinal also said that he spoke with Pope Leo