Amid mounting international concern, leaders across the globe condemned the July 17 attack on the Holy Family Parish in Gaza City, which left three dead and at least 10 injured, including the parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli.
Statements denouncing the Israeli strike poured in from the Vatican, United States, Europe and Latin America. United Nations’ Secretary General António Guterres likewise strongly condemned the attack that hit the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip — one that Pope Francis used to call nightly and for whom Pope Leo XIV offered comfort and prayers July 18.
Stephanie Tremblay, a spokesperson for the secretary general, noted that the church was both a place of worship and a sanctuary for civilians.
“Attacks on places of worship are unacceptable. People seeking shelter must be respected and protected, not hit by strikes,” she said during the daily media briefing in New York.
In the morning of July 18, the Holy Father received a phone call at his residence in Castel Gandolfo from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“During the conversation, the Holy Father renewed his appeal for renewed momentum in the negotiations and for a ceasefire and an end to the war,” a statement from the Vatican following the call said.
“He reiterated his concern for the dramatic humanitarian situation of the population in Gaza, whose heartbreaking price is paid in particular by children, the elderly, and the sick,” while also urging the protection of “places of worship and, above all, the faithful and all people in Palestine and Israel.”
U.S. bishops ‘deeply saddened’
Echoing Pope Leo’s earlier calls for ceasefire, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and head of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, issued a strongly worded statement July 17 calling for an “immediate ceasefire and dialogue for peace.”
Archbishop Broglio said U.S. Catholic bishops were “deeply saddened” by the deaths and injuries.
“Our first concern, naturally, goes out to Father (Gabriel) Romanelli and all his parishioners, most especially to the families of those killed,” he said. “Yesterday was the memorial of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, through her intercession, may there be peace in Gaza.”
Read more: https://www.osvnews.com/world-leaders-appalled-by-gaza-church-attack-amid-calls-between-vatican-tel-aviv-and-washington/
By Judith Sudilovsky | osvnews
