Both American Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump and Pope Francis have expressed their best wishes for the recovery of former Israeli President Shimon Peres, who suffered a major stroke on Tuesday of last week and currently remains sedated in an Israeli hospital.
The 93-year-old Israeli statesman and Nobel Peace Prize laureate’s condition remains unchanged, according to a spokesman for Peres. “His condition is obviously still serious but at the moment he is stable,” the spokesman said, AFP reported.
In a letter sent to Peres last Thursday, Pope Francis said he had “prayed for strength for the family and for a full recovery,” and that he held a special interfaith prayer for the leader with Rabbi Abraham Skorka of Argentina.The pontiff met Peres at the Vatican in 2014, when they jointly prayed for peace with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
Donald Trump also wished Peres a “swift recovery” in a letter, writing that Peres is “among the last of a generation of leaders who fought for the right of the Jewish people to shape their own destiny.”
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and other world leaders have also expressed their wishes for Peres’s recovery. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called for his “swift” recovery and praised him for “seeking peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”
Originally posted at JNS.org.
