Italy: Cardinal leads seven hour prayer, naming all children killed in Holy Land war

Monte Sole di Marzabotto - Wiki Image

On eve of the Feast of the Assumption, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and head of the Italian Bishops' Conference, led a prayer vigil in the park of Monte Sole di Marzabotto, with dozens of members of his diocese, in which the names of every child who has died in Gaza and Israel since 7 October 2023 was read out.

The cardinal introduced the civil saying: "We say their names one by one. They ask us all to commit ourselves to finding or pursuing the path to peace with greater intelligence and passion, starting with a ceasefire and offering the conditions for doing so, from the release of hostages, to not taking an entire people hostage."

The litany began with the names and ages of the 16 Israeli children who died during the 7 October attack by Hamas. It was followed by the names of the 12,211 Palestinian children who have died in Israel's occupation of Gaza, up until July 25, 2025.

The document was 469 pages long. It took more than seven hours to read, starting in the afternoon and going until late in the evening.

The location of the prayer vigil was very symbolic. It took place in the ruins of the Church of Casaglia, which was destroyed by Nazis, between September 29 and October. 5, 1944. During those seven days the destroyed the area and massacred over 770 people, mostly women and children.

Cardinal Zuppi said: "This is to remember, to pay attention, from this place which is a place of suffering and that has since always been a place to remember all victims."

The initiative was organized by the monastic community of the Small Family of the Annunciation, which cares for the ruins of the Nazi attack and preserves its memory. Their School of Peace at Monte Sole is an institution committed to promoting peace and tolerance.