ISTANBUL 

During Israel’s 18-month-long war in Gaza, Pope Francis made a daily phone call to Gaza’s only Catholic parish, offering prayers and words of comfort.

In his final address and public appearance on Easter Sunday, he called for a ceasefire in Gaza, reiterating his unwavering appeal for peace in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

On Monday, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church, died at the age of 88.

He suffered a “prolonged asthma-like respiratory crisis" associated with thrombocytopenia, according to a previous Vatican statement.

Pope Francis is seen as a symbol of compassion, social justice, and moral leadership whose voice resonated far beyond the Catholic Church, with the Vatican News calling him a "pontificate of peace, for peace."

Gaza war

Pope Francis was an outspoken critic of Israel's war on Gaza, and repeatedly called for a ceasefire in the besieged enclave.

In his last address, he criticized the deplorable humanitarian situation in Gaza. “I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages, and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace,” he said.

Pope Francis has also condemned the targeting of civilians, particularly schools and hospitals on several occasions.

"Children were bombed. This is cruelty, not war," he said previously on the Israeli atrocities committed against the Palestinians.

Global conflicts

Earlier this month, Pope Francis renewed his call for dialogue in war-torn Sudan, and the international community to provide humanitarian assistance.

Pope Francis also turned his thoughts to other war-torn countries across the world:

“May peace come at last to martyred Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, the Democratic Republic of Congo, to Myanmar, to South Sudan,” he prayed.

On his Easter Sunday address, the Vatican News quoted Pope’s prayers extended to the Christian communities in Lebanon and in Syria, “presently experiencing a delicate transition in its history,” and urged the whole Church “to keep the Christians of the beloved Middle East in its thoughts and prayers.”

Turning then to Yemen, “experiencing one of the world’s most serious and prolonged humanitarian crises because of war,” Pope Francis invited all those involved to find a solution “through a constructive dialogue.”

Refugees & migrants

Pope Francis in February criticized US President Donald Trump’s program for the mass deportations of illegal immigrants.

“The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality,” Francis said in a letter, underlining that he is watching the “major crisis” in the US over the deportations.

He has been a strong advocate for refugees and migrants, earlier saying that the Mediterranean had become a “cemetery” for migrants.

Asserting that migrants should not be dying in the seas or deserts, Francis argued that introducing stricter anti-migrant laws or militarizing the borders is not the way to avoid this tragic state of affairs.