Members of the clergy rejoice Mass for the late Pope Francis on the Holy Household Church in Gaza Metropolis on Monday.
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GAZA CITY — For most individuals around the globe, Pope Francis was a non secular chief seen on video or examine within the information. For the congregation of a tiny Roman Catholic church in Gaza, he was the voice on the opposite finish of the cellphone each evening, calling to examine on them in wartime.
“He used to call us at 7 p.m. every night. No matter how busy he was, no matter where he was, he always called,” George Anton, spokesperson for the Church of the Holy Household in Gaza, advised NPR on Monday, the day of the pope’s dying at age 88.
“He would ask us how we were, what did we eat, did we have clean water, was anyone injured?” Anton says. “It was never diplomatic or a matter of obligation. It was the questions a father would ask.”
A person holds up a cellphone for the Rev. Gabriel Romanelli, parish priest of Gaza Metropolis’s Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Household, to have a video name with Pope Francis because the pope blesses the congregation throughout Christmas Eve Mass, Dec. 24, 2024.
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Greater than 300 Palestinians have sheltered on the church for the reason that battle in Gaza started in October 2023. One other 300 have sheltered at a close-by Greek Orthodox church, the place an Israeli airstrike killed 17 folks early within the battle. Two ladies on the Holy Household church have been shot lifeless, additionally in 2023, by what the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem mentioned was an Israeli navy sniper. Israel denied that it focused civilians.
The Holy Household congregation was usually terrified, however the pope throughout his calls “drove fear from our hearts,” Anton says. “Today we feel like we are orphans.”
In a video launched by the Vatican in January of the nightly routine, Pope Francis, head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, known as the parish monks in a WhatsApp video name. They greeted one another in Italian whereas one of many monks urged parishioners to assemble round.
Pope Francis requested what they ate that day. The decision passed off simply earlier than a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas — which might finish two months later. Help teams have warned since final yr of widespread starvation and attainable famine in Gaza. On that day in January, the Rev. Youssef Asaad was delighted to inform him they’d hen wings.
Anton says the pope’s closing name got here on Saturday, two days earlier than he died.
As was normal, he says, Francis advised them he was praying for them and mentioned he wanted their prayers.
“He told us not to worry as he would always be there for us,” says Anton. “He was with us until his last breath.”
The Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza Metropolis celebrates Palm Sunday on April 13.
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The Gaza battle has raged for one and a half years, sparked by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault that killed practically 1,200 folks in Israel. The Israeli response has killed greater than 51,000 Palestinians and destroyed the Palestinian enclave. The Worldwide Prison Courtroom is investigating prices of genocide. Israel rejects the allegations.
The battle and its unprecedented toll on Palestinian civilians hardly ever make headlines anymore. However the Gaza parishioners say Pope Francis by no means let it drop.
“His was the only voice that did not go silent on what is happening here,” says Anton.
Pope Francis appeared at Easter Mass on the Vatican the day earlier than he died, greeting crowds of worshipers and reaching out to youngsters alongside the route of his car. In an tackle delivered by his deputy, he known as for a long-lasting ceasefire in Gaza.
Pope Francis delivers his Urbi Et Orbi blessing from the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Sq. on April 20 in Vatican Metropolis.
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Within the area the place Christianity started, the a number of hundred remaining Christians in Gaza maintain tight to their religion. At Gaza Metropolis’s St. Porphyrius Greek Orthodox church on Palm Sunday final week, households carried palm fronds to commemorate the entry of Jesus to Jerusalem. A number of the ladies wore brightly coloured, knee-length clothes.
Anton says the pope was involved not simply with Palestinian Christians however your entire Palestinian folks, usually asking throughout his calls about faculties and hospitals in Gaza.
“Pope Francis believed that in Gaza people deserve to live in dignity and independence,” Anton says. “I would call on the whole world and every individual on this earth to see Gaza in the eyes of Pope Francis.”
Jane Arraf reported from Amman, Jordan.
