Pope calls Gaza parish priest

Happier days. Holy Family Church January 2016

Source: Vatican News

Pope Francis has telephoned Gaza parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, twice since the beginning of the war to find out how people are doing there.

Fr Gabriel is currently in Bethlehem and in constant contact with his parishioners. He told Vatican News: "The Pope called me a few minutes ago. He expressed his closeness and offered his prayers."

He said the Pope "thanked him for his call for a ceasefire and a stop to all violence, all terrorism and all war.... he wanted to show his closeness, and now he was going to call the community directly with my vicar helping people who are refugees in the parish."

The Pope also imparted his "blessing so that everyone may experience the closeness of the Church."

The Gaza parish of the Holy Family is sheltering around 150 people who have lost their homes or are seeking a safe place from the bombardments, said the Italian-born priest.

Fr Gabriel said the raids have affected the entire area, but there have not yet been any reports of deaths among the Christian community or damages.

In all of Gaza, there have been more than 770 deaths reported and 4,000 injured as of Tuesday, as a result of the Israeli raids in response to the terrorist attacks by Hamas on 7 October.

Fr Francesco Patton OFM, has expressed his concern for the future of Gaza's Christians. In an interview with L'Osservatore Romano, the Custos of the Holy Land, he said: "Particularly in Gaza, where the the Christian community is very small, I fear that because of the war, the risk is that the Christian community in Gaza will disappear. I hope not. But it is very dangerous for the Christians to remain in Gaza. The information that we have are that the Christians are safe in this moment, but we don't know the evolution during the next days."