Pope Leo is demanding an end to the “barbarity” of the Israel/Palestine conflict after Israeli artillery struck the only Catholic church in Gaza, killing three and seriously injuring nine others, including the parish priest. Dozens of civilians were huddled in the Holy Family Church when the bomb hit.
The pope made the comments from his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, where he called for “a peaceful resolution of the conflict,” stressing that civilian casualties are unacceptable by international humanitarian law. In his comments, Leo named the three victims – Saad Issa Kostandi Salameh, Foumia Issa Latif Ayyad, and Najwa Ibrahim Latif Abu Daoud – and expressed his “deep sorrow” at the event.
“You are in the heart of the Pope and of the whole Church,” Leo said to Gaza’s besieged Christian community. “Thank you for your witness of faith.”
Leo and Netanyahu
The day after the raid, Leo took a phone call from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he again urged to work towards a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict.
“We insisted on the need to protect the holy places of all religions,” Leo said of the call, stressing the need to find “true respect for people, for sacred places and to try to leave behind so much violence, so much hatred, so many wars.”
In a statement, Netanyahu explained that Israel “deeply regrets that stray ammunition hit Gaza’s Holy Family Church,” adding that “every innocent lost life is a tragedy.”
In addition to the pontiff, Netanyahu also had to answer to President Donald Trump for the strike, who was similarly displeased. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt explained that Trump did not have a “positive reaction,” to news of the bombing, and that he “quickly called the Prime Minister to rectify [the situation].” The State Department urged Israel to probe the strike, which it agreed to do.
Not all are convinced that the strike on the Holy Family Church was an accident, and Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, suggested as much.
“What we know for sure is that a tank, the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] says by mistake, but we are not sure about this,” Cardinal Pizzaballa said to Vatican media. “They hit the church directly.”
What Have Past Popes Said About the Conflict?
Previous popes have taken a similar stance against violence in the region, and have even explicitly supported Palestinian rights.
Following the outbreak of war on October 7, 2023, the late Pope Francis called for peace in Gaza and offered prayers to victims of the violence.
Before Francis, Pope Benedict XVI called for a "sovereign Palestinian homeland" during a 2009 speech in Bethlehem.
But the support goes back further than that. Pope John Paul II affirmed support for an official Palestinian state in March 2000 and called for "decisive actions" to help Palestinians living in poor conditions.
"Your torment is before the eyes of the world, and it has gone on too long... In a particular way, my prayers are with those Palestinians--Muslims and Christians--who are still without a home of their own, their proper place in society and the possibility of a normal working life," the pontiff said during a meeting with Yasser Arafat.
The Push for Peace
As the global political fallout from the strike continues, Leo, like his predecessors, remains focused on brokering peace between Israel and Palestine.
In their call, Leo strongly urged Netanyahu to seek a “renewed push” for the end of the conflict, stressing the “agonizing price” being paid by Gaza’s civilian population. And Leo urged the international community to “pray for peace, and try to convince all parties to come to the table, to dialogue and to lay down their weapons.”
Whether those messages are heeded remains to be seen, as is whether Netanyahu will face further consequences from the international community.
What is your reaction?
10 comments
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Nicholas J Page
Yes end all wars now Give peace a chance too many people are dying and being injured unnecessarily. I pray 🙏 someone will see sense .
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Douglas Robert Spindler
Prayers have not been answered which means God must like what's going on. Sad we have a God that likes to see people killing each other.
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Patricia Ann Gross
Where was the church located? Was it in the middle of a residential area or in the middle of a military/government/political headquarters? My guess is it was in a place where it was surrounded by civilians rather than the army, so there is no excuse or accident. Israeli warpower is more sophisticated than that. This was nothing but intentional.
And just to be clear, being against what Israel's war machine is doing is not anti-semitic, because this has nothing to do with the Jewish religion. It is about political power, which should never be tightly coupled with religion. I have the utmost respect for the Jewish religion and their plight in an anti-semitic world. But wanting to stop the genocide happening in the Palestinian area should never be considered anti-semitic. The focus should be on the fight between the Israeli government and Hamas and the horrendous collateral damage it is causing.
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Reverend Paula Copp
The situation in the Middle East is unconscionable. It is a genocide, and they, of ALL people, should understand the ramifications thereof. Shame on them, and shame on the rest of the world for standing by and allowing this to happen! May the gods have mercy on their souls!
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Bishop William Dusenberry, DD
In my Secular Humanist Pantheist (SHP) denomination of our Universal Life Church, it’s learned (preached, if you will) that the greatest factor resulting in barbarity (starvation, war, famine, disease, as well as social mayhem, anarchy, and chaos) is the ongoing refusal, of the Roman Catholic Church (now joined by the GOP and the Southern Baptist’s) — the refusal to promote ( by legislation if necessary) the universal use of birth control— enabling each and every fornication — to not end in a pregnancy — unless the fornicating couple, wants to have a child, a child can afford to raise until adulthood. To be opposed to the use of birth control, by those living their lives under constant fear of war, access to work, disease, famine, lack of water, and access to the basic necessities of life, is to be an active participant in the greatest crime against humanity ever — since “Noah’s Ark.”
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Lionheart
All he has to do is pray to his god, and close the prayer in the name of someone that is not a saint yet, and then when god ends the war, he can make that named person a saint. Isn’t that what happened recently to some child that was claimed to be dead and came back to life? So it’s very simple, I’m sure his god will listen, and if his god doesn’t take any action then Mr Pope will determine his god wants the war to continue. Job done! 🤷
🦁❤️
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Rev. MichaelRS
Pope Leo 😄.
You know what people like Hamas would like to do to Pope Leo if they got their hands on him.
The same thing they did to the Christians in southern Europe through up to 732 until Charles Martel stopped them.
And the same thing they did to Constantinople, which had been a Christian City for nearly a thousand years, in 1453 which turned it into Istanbul.
Islam is the very definition of settler colonialism.
So pardon me if I LMAO at the people who are ignorant of history today calling Israel a settler colonialist state.
What would have happened if five Arab/Muslim armies had not attacked Israel in 1948 or at any point there after? You don't really have to guess I will tell you.
Israel would be HALF the size it is today.
And I'm sure the Muslim Egyptians, controlled Gaza, and the Muslim Jordanians, who controlled Judea Samaria (aka the West Bank) would have been very keen to give the Palestinians their own state...NOT.
And before you say, "Well there was a Catholic Church in Gaza, why didn't Hamas do anything to them?" It's because they were a cash cow for Hamas.
They had to pay the JIZYA. Kind of lprotection tax like paid to the mafia that non-muslims pay for the privilege of living in Muslim controlled territories and worshiping as they will...
"This is a nice church that you have here. Be a shame if something happened to it...or any of your parishioners."
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Douglas Robert Spindler
How many Synagogues did the Catholics burn/destroy in World War 2 and after? And now the pope is complaining because one Cathodic church was bombed?
God is answers the prayers of the Jews and not the Christians or the Catholics any more.
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Reverend Paula Copp
Wow! May your god help you.
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What can be said about this? I understand that accidents happen. But the fighting in the Holy city... I am ignorant of much and understand that, but I strive to know more. An article of a church that was destroyed? What about all the other houses of God of other religions that are destroyed because of hate? What about the other victims that were/are killed for worshiping differently than you or I do? Have the deaths of all the others become a normal part of life that we do not see it anymore? When we no longer see the deaths of innocent people as tragic, then maybe we need to rethink what we are doing. To my Brothers and Sisters of ALL religions, I send you my love and I pray for happy long lives. I pray we can open our eyes and see that just because we worship differently, does not imply that we cannot live together.