Pope Leoni XIV calls for an immediate <x0-movation” in Gaza

The appeal came in a telegram signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Palolin after the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza was hit during an Israeli military attack.

The Pope said that it is a deeply sad “from the attack on the parish, which has offered more than 500 people refuge since the beginning of the war.

Among the injured was the parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, who suffered a slight walking wound and was treated at Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City.

The Pope addressed Father Romanelli directly to the telegram, providing him with “his spiritual closeness” and offering prayers to the entire parish community.

“entrusting the souls of the deceased to the loving mercy of Almighty God”, the pope said he is praying for “the relief of those who mourn and the healing of the wounded”.

During its deadly offensive at the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Army has bombed several places of worship, including the Gaza Baptist Church and the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Porfir, the oldest in the Gaza Strip and the world's third oldest.

The Church of the Holy Family is the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip, which has sheltered many displaced Palestinians and Muslims since October 2023.

Rejecting international calls for ceasefire, the Israeli Army has attended a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing at least 58,600 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, charging them with war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide indictment at the International Court of Justice for War in the Palestinian enclave. /Periscope/