Cardinal says Israeli gov’t ‘operates according to genocidal logic’

(LifeSiteNews) — In a Sunday interview published by the Italian daily Il Messaggero, Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, Archbishop of Algiers and a Dominican friar, spoke candidly about his lifelong passion for long-distance running and, at greater length, about the conflict in Gaza.

The conversation offers a window into both the personal spirituality and the geopolitical concerns of the 64-year-old Franco-Algerian cardinal, who was named a cardinal by Pope Francis in December 2024 and was later appointed an economic adviser by Pope Leo XIV.

At the end of the interview, Vesco was asked whether he runs marathons, he replied simply, “Yes, I’m a marathon runner. I’ve even run the Rome Marathon.” He confirmed that he completed the 2026 Rome Marathon in March, becoming the first cardinal to take part in the event’s history. He finished the 26.2-mile course in roughly four hours, running in the colors of Athletica Vaticana.

Reminded of his earlier remark that “those who run pray twice” (an adaptation of St. Augustine’s words about singing), Vesco elaborated on the spiritual dimension of his training.

“Yes. As Augustine said about those who sing, when I run, I pray. First of all, it poses a problem for me, because in the morning I sometimes have to choose between going to the chapel or going for a run. And I usually go for a run. So I have to pray anyway!” he said with laughter.

“It’s a need I’ve had since childhood — to run, as long as I can. But it’s true that when the body is in motion, the mind calms down. The mind is at peace. And, in fact, those are often the very moments when space is created,” the cardinal reflected. “Running means seeking out wide-open spaces. And that space is on the earth, but at the same time, it opens up vast spaces in the mind.”

Israeli government operating ‘according to genocidal logic’

The interview also treated weighty international issues such as the situation in Gaza that Vesco did not hesitate to recognize as a “genocide.” He explained that he had lived for two years in Jerusalem and visited Gaza several times during the Intifada, experiencing the Israeli military checkpoints and the daily humiliations they exacted upon the Palestinian people.

“Today, it’s much worse,” he said. Even two decades ago, the two-state solution was difficult to believe in because “the Israeli authorities — and I emphasize: the political leadership of the State of Israel, not the Jewish people — didn’t want it. Netanyahu hasn’t wanted it for more than 20 years.”

READ: ‘Faith in a Time of Genocide’: Holy Land Christians call for solidarity, repudiation of Zionism

Asked if he could recognize a particular strategy with these policies on the part of the Israelis, he said, “Yes. Even 20 years ago, there was no real territorial continuity between the West Bank and Gaza. The strategy has been pursued for decades: settlements, settlements, settlements” in order to render a Palestinian state extremely difficult to establish and facilitate the expelling of the Palestinian people from their ancestorial lands.

Acknowledging the Hamas October 7, 2023 breakout attack on southern Israel as an “act of terrorism,” the cardinal charged the Israeli response as being “disproportionate” and, indeed, as an act of genocide.

This is the case “especially when a people is denied the very possibility of existing. Then there is a second level — that of the physical destruction of people — which is massive,” he said.

READ: Equivalent of 13 atomic bombs dropped on Gaza, over 366,000 estimated dead

Observing the situation, he judged that “the Israeli government today operates according to a genocidal logic because it aims at the disappearance of the Palestinian people as a political and territorial reality. And I also interpret what is happening through a colonial lens.”

“Today, I see colonization. Conquest means taking a territory and driving out its inhabitants or subjugating them. Every colonial process contains a potentially genocidal component,” he observed.

Many Israeli citizens ‘rebelling’ against genocide

Given these dynamics, Vesco went on to recognize the many Israeli citizens who are “rebelling” against these genocidal policies and are likely, in the process, “saving Israel’s soul.”

“At a certain point, those who oppose the regime may become few in number, yet it is precisely they who save the soul of their people, because what is happening today is serious, and it is plain for all to see,” he concluded.

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