Cardinal Nichols: War in Gaza must be ended not increased

Gaza City in ruins Image: CBCEW

Source: Archbishops House

On the feast day of Edith Stein, St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, and the day in which several major peace events took place in London* Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Bishops' Conference, expressed his sorrow and condemnation after Israel's security cabinet approved a plan to take control of Gaza City.

"There must be a better way," he said. "One that does not heap yet further suffering and misery on so many people who are not combatants but defenceless in face of the perpetrators of violence in their midst. Already too much innocent blood has been shed; too many lives destroyed; too much hunger and starvation. This war must be ended not increased."

Describing the parish of the Holy Family in Gaza City as a "haven of compassion and prayer," Cardinal Nichols said his heart goes out to the Catholics and Christians of Gaza, and to His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, who oversees the local Church in Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus.

Full Statement

"Today, and in these days, I weep for the people of Gaza as they face not just a continuation of their immense suffering but an escalation in their hardship and desperation.

"To increase the destruction of Gaza City and then the rest of its territory, in order to defeat a terrorist organisation and movement, is a development that is rightly being condemned around the world. There must be a better way, one that does not heap yet further suffering and misery on so many people who are not combatants but defenceless in face of the perpetrators of violence in their midst. Already too much innocent blood has been shed; too many lives destroyed; too much hunger and starvation. This war must be ended not increased.

"My heart goes out to my fellow Catholics and Christians in Gaza, and to HE Cardinal Pizzaballa. His consistent appeals for peace, for aid safely delivered, together with his sustaining of the Parish of the Holy Family as a haven of compassion and prayer, must evoke from us all our practical help and our prayers.

"This centre of peaceful resilience and profound solidarity, in the midst of such devastation and inhumanity, must be protected and preserved as one sign of hope for the future.

"Our Lady of Gaza, pray for us. St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, pray for us."

*Peace prayers with the Christian Bloc at St Anselm & St Cecilia's before the national peace march, the Franz Jagerstatter Memorial Service at Westminster Cathedral, and the Interfaith procession to the Buddhist Shrine in Battersea Park where there was a memorial service marking the 80th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - reports coming soon.