Pope Benedict today condemned the use of violence by Israel and Hamas Islamists in Gaza a day after one of his senior aides angered Jews by calling the strip "a big concentration camp".
"Once again I would repeat that military options are no solution and that violence, wherever it comes from and whatever form it takes, must be firmly condemned," he said in a speech to diplomats from some 170 countries accredited to the Vatican.
In the French-language speech about the world situation, he lamented "a renewed outbreak of violence provoking immense damage and suffering for the civilian population" and urged "the rejection of hatred, acts of provocation and the use of arms".
While the pope seemed at pains to make his speech diplomatically even-handed, calling for the respect of the legitimate aspirations of both sides, one of his senior aides was not so delicate with his comments about the siege of Gaza.
Yesterday, his point man for justice and peace issues delivered the Vatican's toughest criticism of Israel since the latest Middle East crisis began, calling Gaza a "big concentration camp" in an interview with an Italian online newspaper.
"Defenceless populations are always the ones who pay. Look at the conditions in Gaza: more and more, it resembles a big concentration camp", said Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace.