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GAZA’S ONLY CATHOLIC parish has thanked Pope Francis for his support and has wished him well with as the pontiff continues to battle pneumonia in both lungs.
Since October 9, 2023, two days after the bombings began in Gaza, Francis has been in daily contact with the Holy Family Church, bar a few days recently due to his hospitalisation.
It is the only Catholic parish in the Gaza Strip and located in the northern part of Gaza City.
The nightly calls take place via WhatsApp at 8pm local time in Gaza.
In a video posted to social media last night, parishioners and parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli can be seen standing before the altar of their church.
Like Francis, Father Romanelli is from Argentia.
“Dear Holy Father, we are gathered here in Gaza after today’s Mass,” said Fr Romanelli in the video.
“It is very, very cold, but we want to express our gratitude, our closeness, and our prayers. The whole world is praying for you and is deeply grateful, and we all wish you good health.”
A man in the video adds: “Thank you so much, we wish you good health, we are praying for you always.”
At the end of the video, the crowd says: “God bless you always. Shukran, shukran.”
“Shukran” is Arabic for “thank you”.
Vatican News has described the nightly calls as a way for Francis to stay connected with the parish community, where over 600 people are sheltered, both Christians and Muslims, within its church and school.
It was during a weekly general audience last month when Francis revealed he daily calls the parish in Gaza.
At the end of the general audience on 22 January, a few days after the ceasefire in Gaza began, Francis said: “Yesterday I called – I do it every day – the parish in Gaza. There are 600 people there, it’s a very courageous parish.
“And they told me, ‘Today we had lentils with chicken.’ Something they were not used to doing in these times. They were happy.”
He added that “war is always a defeat”.
That night, the Vatican released a video of Francis speaking to the parish in Gaza on a video call.
“We want to thank you and we will pray for you,” Egyptian-born Father Yusuf Asad told Francis in that video call last month from Gaza.
Speaking to Vatican News last week, Fr Romanelli remarked: “The Holy Father called us, people were waiting at 8 p.m. Gaza time as always.
“Although we had a blackout in the whole area of Gaza City, he insisted and managed to contact us with a video-call.”
Vatican News said that as Francis checked in on the Gaza parishioners and imparted his blessing, the people expressed their feelings of closeness to him.
The Vatican recognises the State of Palestine and earlier this month, the Holy See’s Secretary of State hit out at US president Donald Trump’s remarks that Palestinians would have no right of return to Gaza under his takeover plan.
“This is one of the fundamental points of the Holy See: no deportations,” Secretary of State Pietro Parolin said on the sidelines of an Italy-Vatican meeting.
“The solution in our opinion is that of two states because this also means giving hope to the population,” he added.
Meanwhile, Palestinian artisans created last year’s “Nativity of Bethlehem” which was displayed in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall.
Representatives from the Embassy of the State of Palestine were present for its inauguration on 7 December, as were those who created the Nativity.
The wooden figurine of the baby Jesus was swaddled in a keffiyeh and Francis spent some time praying before it.
As is customary, the figurine of Jesus was then removed from the Nativity scene until Christmas Eve.
However, when the public was next able to view the Nativity scene in the Paul VI Hall on 4 January, the keffiyeh had been removed.
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