Pope’s Heart ‘Breaks’ When Israeli Hostage’s Mother Shows Bloody Video Of Son’s Abduction

Pope Francis said his heart broke when the mother of an Israeli hostage showed him video of her son’s abduction by Hamas terrorists.

Chicagoan Rachel Goldberg was part of a group of Israelis and Palestinians who met with the Pope at the Vatican Tuesday.

“The Israeli families, in particular an American, Rachel Goldberg, whose 23-year-old son Hersh Goldberg-Polin was taken captive. She brought a picture of her son, and then she showed the Pope just a horrific video of Hersh being abducted after a hand grenade had blown off part of his lower left arm,” said MSNBC’s Anne Thompson, before playing her interview with Goldberg.

GOLDBERG: I quickly showed him the video of Hersh getting loaded onto the pickup truck with his arm amputated.

THOMPSON: How did the Pope react to that?

GOLDBERG: He put his hand on his heart, and he spoke in Italian, which a lovely priest translated into English for me, saying, his heart is with me and breaks for me, and that he was going to try to do everything that he could to help all of us have our loved ones returned.

Earlier in her report, Thompson said the pontiff told all in attendance that he was praying for peace.

“Today the message to the families, both Palestinian and Israeli, was a message of compassion. That he is praying for them, for both sides, and praying for peace.”

Thompson said that some of the Palestinian families asked him “to come Gaza, to visit that area, and he was non-committal. He thought that was interesting.”

Thompson said the meeting was scheduled prior to the hostage release agreement.

“The Pope today…said that what’s going on in Israel and Gaza is ‘beyond wars.’ He called it ‘terrorism,’ and certainly that’s something that these families would agree with,” Thompson said.

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.