“Christ is not absent from Gaza,” Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa said on Tuesday. “He is there—crucified in the wounded, buried under rubble, and yet present in every act of mercy, every candle in the darkness, every hand extended to the suffering.”
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem was speaking at a press conference with Eastern Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III, following the prelates’ recent pastoral visit to Gaza. In his opening remarks, Cardinal Pizzaballa insisted that the two patriarchs had travelled to the war-torn Palestinian territory not as politicians or diplomats, but as pastors. He insisted that the Church will never abandon the people of Gaza, emphasizing that their mission was not to a specific group, but to all: “Christians, Muslims, believers, doubters, refugees, children.”
‘Servants of the suffering Body of Christ’
His sentiments were echoed by Patriarch Theophilos, who said they had gone to Gaza “as servants of the suffering Body of Christ, walking among the wounded, the bereaved, the displaced, and the faithful, whose dignity remains unbroken despite their agony.” In Gaza, he said, “we encountered a people crushed by the weight of war, yet carrying within them the image of God.”
The Orthodox Patriarch explained that “the Church’s mission in times of devastation is rooted in the ministry of presence, of standing with those who mourn, of defending the sacredness of life, and of witnessing to the light that no darkness can extinguish.”
Read more: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2025-07/cardinal-pizzaballa-the-church-will-never-abandon-gazans.html
By Christopher Wells | VaticanNews
