Opinion | The Incoherence of Pope Francis

Pope Francis called President Biden on Sunday to talk about Gaza. The papal phone call came amid Israel’s public criticism of the Vatican’s tendency to treat the Israel Defense Forces as morally equivalent to the Hamas terrorists who targeted, attacked and butchered unarmed Israeli civilians.

Israel’s irritation was kicked off by a joint statement on Oct. 7, the day of the Hamas attack, from the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem. This is an ecumenical Christian group that includes the Catholic Latin patriarch of Jerusalem. The leaders did “unequivocally condemn” acts that target civilians. But the statement didn’t name Hamas, and it called for the “cessation of all violent and military activities that bring harm to both Palestinian and Israeli civilians.”