We are orphans now, say Catholics Gaza Pope called Daily

“As-Salaam Alaikum” or “Peace, to get up,” Pope Francis embarked on Arabic as he spoke with parishioners in Gaza earlier this year.

A short video, published by the Vatican after his death, showed his intimate connection with the tiny Christian community in the Palestinian territory, many of which he got to know by name.

During the 18-month wars, he set out to call them the night to check their well-being.

“What did you eat today?” The Pope asks the local priests in the video, moving to Italian. “The rest of the chicken from yesterday,” replies Father Gabriel Romanelli.

Only a few hundred Christians remain in gas among almost entirely the Muslim population over 2 million. Many live, as well as worship the Catholic Church of the Holy Family in Gaza.

With the death of the Pope, they feel that they have lost a dear friend.

“He called us daily during the war, in the black days under the bombing – in the days when people were killed and wounded,” said Father Romanelli.

“Sometimes we didn’t have a telephone connection for hours and the Pope with all his responsibilities would try to contact us.”

George Anton, a local Catholic, is an emergency coordinator in the Holy Family Church. He told me that the shock left him almost silent the first time he spoke to the Pope, but that he eventually talks to him on video calls regularly.

He explained to Ponif how he lost his home and his relatives.

“He blessed me all the time, and he fully understood our situation and always encouraged us to be strong,” said Anton. “And he asked” What can I do for you? What more can I do for you “?”

Gazan Christians say they will now miss a great source of comfort and support.

“We felt like” Oh God, we’re now like orphans, “said Anton.

“There will be no calls from the Pope, we will not hear this voice. We will not hear his sense of humor. You know that Pope Francis has a special connection with gas and with each of us.”

Pope Francis visited the Holy Land in 2014. A determining image of his journey came to an unplanned stop in Bethlehem when he prays for peace from the graphics wall, which is part of the barrier on the west coast of Israel.

On Sunday at his Easter message, his last public appearance, he again calls for peace and the cessation of fire in Gaza.

In his words read by an assistant, he said: “The terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation.”

“War is not just a weapon. War is sometimes words,” said the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pirbatista Pitzabala, said when I asked him about the Pope’s final address. He said the Pope had moral clarity.

“Pope Francis recently, especially in the last year, has been very honest about the situation of the Holy Land, calling for the release of the hostages, but also condemned the dramatic situation, the ongoing war in gas and the situation for the Palestinians,” the cardinal said.

The Israeli media noted that while President Isaac Duke expressed condolences to the Catholic world, there were no such comments from the Prime Minister or Foreign Minister, as expected – widely attributed to the strong positions of the Pope against the Gaza war.

Some of his latest criticism of Israel came at the end of last year when excerpts from the upcoming book were published.

“According to some experts, what is happening in gas has the characteristics of genocide,” Pope Francis writes.

“It must be carefully studied to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by lawyers and international authorities.”

Israel firmly rejects the allegations of genocide in Gaza and says his goal for military is to defeat Hamas.

As a conclave in Rome begins this week to solve Pope Francis’ heir, the Palestinians and Israelis will watch closely to see what the next pope must say about their insoluble conflict.

Gaza Christians say they are hoping that whoever is chosen will insist on peace.