With his outspokenness about Israel’s outrages, the late pope showed up the hypocrisy of the media and politicians

The deaths of major public figures can provoke the most grotesque outpourings of hypocrisy. So it goes for Pope Francis, now lauded by leaders and media outlets that were complicit in the very evils he condemned. “Pope Francis was a pope for the poor, the downtrodden and the forgotten,” said Keir Starmer, a prime minister who stripped the winter fuel payment from many vulnerable pensioners before launching an assault on disability benefits predicted to drive up to 400,000 Britons into poverty. “He promoted … an end to … suffering across the globe,” wrote Joe Biden, enabler of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza.

Indeed, the fate of Gaza seemed to preoccupy the pope’s final years. In his last Easter address, he condemned the “death and destruction” and resulting “dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation” – a powerful sermon that hardly any western media outlets covered. Indeed, you will struggle to find much prominent coverage of any of his courageous statements on Gaza, such as: “This is not war. This is terrorism.” In his final published piece, the pope reiterated his support for a Palestinian state, declaring: “Peace-making requires courage, much more so than warfare.”

Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist

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