Israel strikes the Gaza church the pope used to call nightly

Boston Globe

17-07-2025

'The Latin Patriarchate strongly condemns this tragedy and this targeting of innocent civilians and of a sacred place,' it said in a statement. 'However, this tragedy is not greater or more terrible than the many others that have befallen Gaza.'
It added: 'The time has come for leaders to raise their voices and to do all what is necessary in order to stop this tragedy which is humanly and morally unjustified.'
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Naim identified two of the dead
as Fumayya Ayyad and Saad Eissa Salameh. They
were Orthodox Christians but were sheltering at the church, according to Kamel Ayad, a spokesman for Gaza's Greek Orthodox Church.
One of the wounded remained in critical condition, and two were in serious condition as of late afternoon local time, the Latin patriarchate said. Romanelli was lightly injured.
Cardinal Pizzaballa told Vatican News that a tank had fired on the church directly, 'the IDF says by mistake, but we are not sure about this.'
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Caritas, a Catholic charity that runs mental health services at the church, said the church's roof was hit by a shell at around 10:10 a.m. local time, scattering shrapnel across the courtyard below and severely wounding two elderly women sitting inside a Caritas tent, along with others nearby who were rushed to the hospital.
As shelling and Israeli military operations picked up in the area over the past week, Romanelli had urged people sheltering at the church to stay inside. If most hadn't heeded that warning, the casualty count Thursday could have been much higher, the Caritas statement said.
Pope Leo XIV said in a statement he was 'deeply saddened' to learn of the attack and that 'he assures the parish priest, Father Gabriele Romanelli, and the whole parish community of his spiritual closeness.' The pope reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, said the statement, which was signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state.
The strike on the Holy Family Church also drew swift condemnations from politicians in Italy, which surrounds Vatican City. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was one of the first to confirm the strike on the church. She said in a statement in Italian: 'The attacks against the civilian population that Israel has been carrying out for months are unacceptable. No military action can justify such behavior.'
The Israel Defense Forces said it was aware of the reports of damage to the church and casualties. 'The circumstances of the incident are under review,' it said in a statement. 'The IDF makes every feasible effort to mitigate harm to civilians and civilian structures, including religious sites, and regrets any damage caused to them.'
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Israel's Foreign Ministry said the results of the military's probe would be 'published transparently.'
The Holy Family Church, located in Gaza City in the north of the besieged enclave, has long been the center of worship for Gaza's Catholic minority. During the war, it also became a place of refuge, sheltering hundreds of Palestinian civilians, Muslims as well as Christians.
Some 450 displaced people were sheltering at the site when it came under attack, Jubran said.
The Jerusalem patriarchate for the Greek Orthodox Church condemned the strike Thursday as 'a flagrant violation of human dignity and a blatant violation of the sanctity of life and the sanctity of religious sites, which are supposed to provide a safe haven in times of war.'
The strike 'destroyed large parts of the complex' and forced some people with special needs who rely on ventilators to evacuate the area, putting their lives at risk, the statement added.
An aid worker in contact with the church said they had provided the GPS coordinates for the entire church compound to the Israeli military early in the war. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Even as Israeli bombing and fighting raged around the parish, priests there continued to hold services — and, for a year and a half, gave nightly updates to Francis, the leader of the world's roughly 1.4 billion Catholics. In the regular video calls, which sometimes took several hours to get through, Francis would ask about the parishioners and would give them his blessing, Romanelli told The Washington Post this spring. Francis died in April.
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'He never gave up until he reached us and delivered his message' each night, Romanelli said.
The close attention from the pontiff made the church famous and drew attention to the plight of Gaza's civilians as they tried to survive relentless Israeli bombardment, displacement and shortages of food, clean water, fuel, and other basic supplies.
Francis was an early and outspoken critic of the way Israel has waged its war in Gaza, which Israel launched in retaliation for the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, during which Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and took about 250 hostages to Gaza. The ensuing Israeli military campaign has devastated most of the Gaza Strip, displaced nearly all of its population at least once, and killed more than 58,000 people.
After an Israeli sniper killed two women who had taken shelter at the Holy Family Church in December 2023, two months into the war, Francis called Israel's actions in Gaza 'terrorism.' Seven other people were injured in the shooting on the parish complex, the patriarchate in Jerusalem said at the time.
Leo XIV does not appear to have kept up the tradition of the regular calls to the church in Gaza, according to a Vatican official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Leo has previously called for a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of Israeli hostages.