Pope Francis in Constant Communication with the Catholics of Gaza

Since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, which occurred on the morning of Saturday, October 7, Pope Francis has followed the events closely “with apprehension and pain,” in his own words. For this reason, he maintains fluid communication with the parish priest of the Gaza Strip, the Argentine priest Gabriel Romanelli, who has already received two calls from the Pontiff.

So far, in the Christian community – a minority of about 1,000 people – no deaths or injuries have been reported. The parish has already received and offered shelter to about 150 people displaced from their homes.

Father Romanelli told Vatican News that Pope Francis has called him twice and “has expressed his closeness and his prayers.”

From Bethlehem, where he was passing through at the time of the attacks and from where he has been prevented from returning to Gaza, the priest remains in constant contact with the faithful. On behalf of the community, he thanked the Holy Father for “the call for a ceasefire and against all violence, all terrorism and all war.”

The Pope “wanted to express precisely the closeness and now he was going to call the same community, [to speak] directly with my vicar, with the people who are taking refuge in the parish,” he explained.

“Yesterday Pope Francis also called,” said the parish priest, to find out how the people and the parish were. In addition, he sent his blessing, a symbol of the closeness of the Church in this difficult time.

In the entire Gaza area, explained the priest of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, there are 770 dead and more than 4,000 injured, as a result of the attacks that Israel deployed in response to the Hamas offensive.

However, the Christian community “is fine, as well as it can be in this situation,” said Father Romanelli. So far, “and we hope never,” there have been no deaths among the faithful or damage to parish infrastructure.

Currently, in the Holy Family parish of Gaza “we have many refugees,” he explained. Its facilities offer asylum to around 150 people who lost their homes or are seeking safe refuge from the bombings. Other neighbors take refuge in the school belonging to the parish.

“No one enters and no one leaves the Strip now. The situation is very serious. There are many dead and many injured and if there is a land invasion, there will really be rubble,” the religious anticipated.

“Thank God, the structures of the Catholic Church have always been respected, knowing that we do not enter into political or military issues and that ours is a mission of peace, a humanitarian mission where we have our parishioners, where we have disabled children and people in need of help or abandoned, with the sisters of Mother Teresa and the Fathers of the Incarnate Word. Our schools have always been places where we welcome people. The situation is very, very serious,” she summarized.

“The dead until last night were about 700, including 140 children, and according to the Ministry of Health in the Strip, the injured are more than three thousand and 10% are children,” he said.

In addition, many have lost their homes and others have suffered serious damage. “Some don’t even know what their houses are like. “They have not been able to return to see how the situation is, but they receive images from the entire region,” he explained.

The priest acknowledged that in the Strip “they are tired of everything,” and that “they never imagined so many massacres, so many people deprived of their liberty.”

“The parishioners are naturally very sad about all this and everyone hopes that this will end. But they realize that only divine intervention and an extraordinary commitment of so many forces, so many associations or countries can help stop this and thus respond to Pope Francis’ call to end terror and war. They realize that it is almost impossible, but not impossible,” he emphasized.

The priest assured that the inhabitants of Gaza “do not believe anyone, on both sides of the wall,” and that is why they do not express their opinions. “I am not a prophet or the son of a prophet to know what people think, but what they say is that they are fed up and do not believe anyone,” he commented.

Although there has been no electricity for three days, and there is only some fuel left, the parish priest announced that “so far there is no feeling that there is a shortage of food or water.”

“I don’t know how long it will be like this. We, for example, have been stockpiling, always anticipating problems. We are buying, or taking on credit what we can find, because we have almost 150 people to serve and give them food, a plate and something to drink, a mattress and something to cover themselves with. But until when it will be possible I don’t know, because with each bombing people lose everything and need everything,” he acknowledged.

Regarding a possible ground attack, Father Romanelli assured that some have already been warned about it, and that the local Diocese, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, issued specific instructions from the Israeli Defense Army to evacuate some neighborhoods that would be attacked.

“I am not a political analyst and I don’t understand much about this, but I know that this reality would be terrible,” he anticipated.

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