The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa OFM, whose territory includes war-torn Gaza and the West Bank, has said he remains hopeful in spite of increasing concerns about the future.

“I am not very optimistic about the future, but hope is a way of being in life,” he said on a visit to Ireland, referring to the small Christian community of Catholic and Orthodox faithful in Gaza.

“Before the war, we had little more than 1,000 Christians. Now 621 remain,” he told Fr Bill Kemmy of iCatholic.

He said Gaza’s landscape is now “totally different”. There are no roads. “You have to go through mountains of garbage and rubble. You see the population living in these ruins. There is no electricity, no water, no sewage, no communications.

“Both of our Christian communities – Orthodox and Catholic – are living in the church compound. They lost everything. They cook once or twice per week. It has been six months that people don’t eat vegetables and fruit and the lack of vitamins is evident – you see it in the faces.”

He highlighted the difficulty for those living with chronic disease without access to medicines.The lack of hygiene also has heavy consequences, he said. Children and the elderly are an “especially fragile population”.

Throughout the north of Gaza, including Gaza city, where there are about 600,000 people, there are now no functioning hospitals.

Members of the small Christian community are living in classrooms with just blankets separating families. “There is no gas but there is a lot of wood because houses have been destroyed and there is a lot of furniture that can provide wood.”

The Franciscan prelate paid tribute to the Sisters of Charity who provide assistance to 60 seriously disabled children. Part of their house was hit by tanks and some of the children now live in the church.

Reflecting on the situation since the 7 October terror atrocities perpetrated on Israel by Hamas, he said, “We cannot change the macro political level but at least in our communities and in our relations with the people we meet [we have] to have a different attitude where you do not dehumanise the other. Faith in God gives us the strength to do all that is possible to change something in the life.”

Welcoming Cardinal Pizzaballa to Dublin’s Pro Cathedral, Archbishop Dermot Farrell said, “Our sisters and brothers in the Holy Land know first hand what it means to walk in the valley of darkness.”

By Sarah Mac Donald | thetablet.co.uk