Pope vows to work towards kidnapped soldiers’ release
Families of kidnapped soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser meet with Pope Benedict XVI in Vatican. ‘We were surprised by warm reception,’ Karnit Goldwasser says. Pope promises to continue contributing to efforts to secure captives’ release
The Regev and Goldwasser families met with the pope during a two-day visit to Italy and the Vatican as part of a campaign to enlist foreign help, said Oded Ben-Hur, Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See.
Eldad Regev’s brother Benny Regev, Ehud Goldwassers’ parents Miki and Shlomo, his wife Karnit and her father made up the Italian delegation.
The families were also slated to meet with top Italian officials later Wednesday, including Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema.
'We asked him to keep sending letters'
The meeting with the pope took place during his weekly public audience at the Vatican.
“We were surprised by the warm reception we received,” Karnit Goldwasser said. “Tens of thousands of people participate in the mass, and there’s a long line for 8,000 seats. Because ours was a humanitarian mission, they gave us special seats, separate from the rest.”
“After the mass, the pope comes down to meet people sitting in the first row. He came over to us and asked how we were. We presented him the case we’d prepared with pictures of the kidnapped soldiers. I showed him a picture of me and Udi from our wedding,” she said.
A few months ago, shortly after the kidnapping, the pope sent a letter to Hizbullah’s spiritual leader Sheikh Fadlallah asking him to have the soldiers released, or at least send a sign of life from them. The pope’s plea was refused.
“We asked him to keep sending letters, to try and help,” Karnit said. He said he’d continue to be committed to the matter and would work towards their release,” Karnit said. The families presented Benedict with the gift of a booklet with paintings from the Bible, she noted.
Meanwhile, Benedict deplored Tuesday’s bombings on commuter buses in Lebanon that killed three people. In a telegram to Lebanese Cardinal Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir, the pope said he was “deeply pained by the serious attack” and was praying for the victims and their families.
He also urged “the Lebanese people and its leaders to unanimously reject violence” and work for “national unity and common good.”
AP contributed to the report
