The top diplomat of the Vatican condemned both Hamas ” ‘inhumane and indefensible’ on Monday and Israel’s ‘running massacre’ in Gaza, warning that even legitimate self -defense cannot justify the destruction of a ‘largely defenseless population’.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the State Secretary for the Vatican and one of the advisers of Pope Leo XIV, spoke in an interview on the occasion of the second birthday of Hamas’ attack on Israel – a raid that killed around 1200 people and hosted 251 people.
Parolin said that Israel’s military reaction is far beyond the limits of proportionality, which changes Gaza’s busy neighborhoods into ruins.
“The war fed by the Israeli army to eliminate Hamas militants ignores the fact that it focuses on a largely defenseless population, pushed to the edge, in an area where buildings and houses are reduced to rubble,” he said Vatican media.
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Cardinal Pietro Parolin condemned the attack of 7 October by Hamas on Israel, while also called the current conflict between the two, Israel’s ‘running massacre’, on October 6, 2025. (Stefano Carofei/IPA/SIPA/imagn)
“Those who are attacked have the right to defend themselves,” he said, “but even legitimate defense must respect the principle of proportionality.”
Reuters reported that the Gaza Health Authorities run by Hamas claims that the Israel campaign has resulted in more than 67,000 deaths in Gaza, mainly citizens.
The comments are among the sharpest punishment of the church of the war. They also mark a shift to a powerful Vatican voice under Leo, who succeeded Pope Francis in May.
Parolin has also confused global powers for their paralysis.
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A Gazan family runs near the rubble of buildings during the Eid al-Adha Holiday, in Gaza City, June 6, 2025. (Mahmoud Issa/Reuters)
“It is … clear that the international community is unfortunately powerless and that the countries that are really able to exert influence have not acted so far to stop the current massacre,” he said.
“I can only repeat the very clear words that Pope Leo spoke on July 20:” I am renewing my profession at the international community to observe humanitarian law and to respect the obligation to protect citizens, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the random use of violence and the forced relocation of the population. “
Parolin continued and doubted the morality of arms sales for parties in the conflict.
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Pope Leo XIV delivers his blessing to the believers at the end of his weekly general public in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican, on August 27, 2025. (Riccardo de Luca/Anadolu via Getty images)
“It is not enough to say that what is happening is unacceptable and then let it happen,” he said.
“We have to seriously ask ourselves about the legitimacy … of continuing to deliver weapons that are used against citizens.”
In July, Pope Leo XIV expressed sad and called for a ceasefire -after Gaza’s only Catholic Church was hit in an apparent Israeli strike, leaving at least two dead and several wounded. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said that “stray ammunition” hit the church.
Parolin’s warning countries while European leaders are confronted with growing pressure to make more than healthcare statements. His use of “massacre” repeated humanitarian groups that say that the civil infrastructure of Gaza has collapsed.
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At the same time, he repeated the requirement of the church that Hamas freed all remaining hostages.
“Those attacks were inhumane and indefensible,” he said, underlined that the suffering of neither parties is decreasing the other.
Reuters has contributed to this report.
