Pope Francis on Middle East conflict: 'Defence must be proportional'

Pope Francis addressed the armed conflict in the Middle East and other moral issues on Sunday, emphasizing the importance of ethics during wartime. "Defence must always be proportional to the attack," the Pope told journalists during the return flight from Brussels to Rome.

Asked about Friday's attack by Israel on Beirut, which killed the leader of the Lebanese Shia organization Hezbollah, Hasan Nasrallah, the Pope stressed that "defence must always be proportional to the attack," otherwise, it goes beyond morality.

Francis also added that "even in war, there is a morality to safeguard," although it is defined by the rules of war.

"Women have the right to life: their own life and the lives of their children. Let's not forget to say this: abortion is murder," he emphasized, calling doctors who perform abortions "hitmen."

"Masculinizing the Church, masculinizing women is not humane; it is not Christian," Francis said, also negatively assessing "exaggerated feminism." He stressed that in the life of the Church, a woman is more important than a man.

During the meeting with journalists, the Pope also addressed the issue of pedophilia in the Church, referring to his meeting with victims of sexual abuse by priests in Brussels.

"I have listened to people who have been abused. I believe it is a duty," he said, calling the tendency towards pedophilia a "psychiatric illness" and stating that perpetrators cannot be allowed to work freely in parishes or schools. "I told the Belgian bishops not to be afraid and to strive ahead, go forward. The shame is to cover up; this is indeed shame," he declared.