Rome: Priests from around the world in silent march against Middle East genocide

Priests with shroud bearing names of hundreds of children killed by Israel since the 'ceasefire'.

Source: Priests Against Genocide

A white shroud bearing the names of hundreds of Palestinian and Lebanese children, handwritten by the priests themselves, crossed the centre of Rome today. Carried in prayerful silence by about 150 priests and bishops from the international network 'Priests Against Genocide,' who had come to Rome from eight countries, exactly one year after their first gathering on September 22, 2025 - when, as they said then, "we could no longer stay silent."

This year's march served to reaffirm that genocide, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing must never become "normal," nor be forgotten.

As Father Peter-John Pearson, Vicar for Clergy of the Archdiocese of Cape Town and Director of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office, who traveled from South Africa for the occasion, declared: "We march so that genocide, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing never become normal - because every child is a child of God, with a name, not a number."

"A truce was announced, but the bombs did not stop," the network reaffirmed. "A truce that does not stop the killing is not a truce."

Since October 2025, more than 300 children have been killed in Gaza, and over the past five months around 150 children have been killed in Lebanon.

Bearing the names of three hundred Palestinian and Lebanese children killed by Israel in the months following the announcement of the "ceasefires" in both countries, the shroud will be sent to the USA to join the international shroud initiative launched by Priests Against Genocide - USA and Doctors Against Genocide.

The day opened with a session reserved for the network's priests - with delegations from Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Denmark, and South Africa - and with testimonies from the "Pilgrimage of Justice" in the Holy Land, held jointly with Pax Christi.

In the afternoon, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy at Santo Spirito in Sassia, livestreamed with an intention for Palestine and Lebanon, preceded the prayer march that set out from Via della Conciliazione, with a stop outside the embassies of Palestine and Lebanon to the Holy See, where the priests sang the hymn 'Taybeh' in memory of the violence committed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

The march concluded with a stop to protest outside the headquarters of Leonardo SpA, addressed to those who manufacture weapons for or finance Israel. Closing the procession was Archbishop Emeritus Giovanni Ricchiuti of Altamura, president of Pax Christi Italy: "May this path of justice and peace in Rome be welcome, so as not to forget - through nonviolent steps and words - Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon, and to continue denouncing the crime being committed by Israel against the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples, while calling for a difficult but always possible reconciliation."

From the square, the network relaunched a twofold appeal. To civil institutions: "Suspend arms sales to Israel, apply international law, stop treating UN resolutions as optional opinions."

To pastors and episcopal conferences: a word that is "sharper, more prophetic, more concrete," because "cautious silence and diplomacy protect no one except those committing the atrocities". As Cardinal Pizzaballa himself recently said: "Complexity cannot become an excuse to deny that right now there is an oppressed people and an oppressor."

The network makes clear that its denunciation of the crimes and ethnic cleansing in Palestine and Lebanon, which began well before the massacre of October 7, is neither a justification of that day of violence nor a condemnation of the Jewish people - toward whom it renews its absolute respect and firmest rejection of all antisemitism - but is directed at Israel's political leadership and the networks of power that sustain it.

Priests Against Genocide has grown from 200 priests a year ago to more than 2,600 members in 68 countries across five continents. The goal of 4,000 - roughly 1% of the world's Catholic clergy - is now within reach. "A number that does not claim to represent the whole Church," said Don Rito Maresca, coordinator of the network, "but that asks the whole Church not to look away."

LINKS

Gaza Children's Shroud: www.gazachildrenshroud.com/

If you are a Catholic priest and would like to join Priests Against Genocide see: https://forms.gle/WH66Tzqa6KgKzyra8