Church leaders announce new hospital project for Gaza

Cardinal Pizzaballa with Archbishop Baturi. Image: Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

Source: Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

Today, His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, together with Archbishop Giuseppe Baturi, Secretary General of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), announced a joint project to establish a hospital in Gaza. The initiative, carried out in partnership with the Patriarchate, comes as a concrete response to the worsening health crisis in the enclave.

"There is a very serious health problem, and we want to address it with the Patriarchate: it is a concrete commitment that will mobilize a lot of energy," Mgr Baturi affirmed.

Cardinal Pizzaballa expressed deep gratitude to the Italian bishops, emphasizing that in the midst of devastation and despair, gestures of solidarity are not symbolic but life-giving. "Hope needs gestures, words, but above all a context in which bonds are forged, where unity and community are built. In situations of great pain and suffering, it is necessary to have someone by your side who supports and helps you. In this sense, all this becomes a sign of hope," the Patriarch said.

The hospital project is part of a broader network of initiatives supported by the CEI and the Latin Patriarchate, focused on meeting the urgent needs of the local community through food aid, educational opportunities, and housing assistance. Archbishop Baturi described these initiatives as an "energy of peace, capable of shaping consciences and opening up the future."

In a region marked by political deadlock and humanitarian tragedy, the voices of Cardinal Pizzaballa and the Italian Church converge on the same message: peace is not merely the absence of war, but the building of concrete pathways of hope, solidarity, and shared humanity.