Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza at Christmas 2021. / Credit: Anas-Mohammed/Shutterstock
Rome Newsroom, Dec 18, 2023 / 10:35 am (CNA).
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has denied culpability over the deaths of two Christian Palestinian women who were reportedly killed at the Holy Family Parish complex in Gaza on Saturday morning.
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said on Saturday morning that “around noon” on Dec. 16, a sniper of the IDF “murdered two Christian women inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza, where the majority of Christian families has taken refuge since the start of the war.” Several others were also shot, the statement said.
“No warning was given, no notification was provided,” the patriarchate said. “They were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the parish, where there are no belligerents.”
In an emailed statement to CNA, the IDF said that it had received the letter “describing a tragic incident that took place in the Holy Family Parish.”
On Saturday, “representatives of the church contacted the IDF regarding explosions that were heard near the church,” the IDF said.
“During the dialogue between the IDF and representatives of the community, no reports of a hit on the church, nor civilians being injured or killed, were raised.”
“A review of the IDF’s operational findings support this,” the statement said.
The IDF did not respond to a follow-up query asking explicitly if the army was refuting or challenging the reports that an IDF sniper killed two women at the parish.
The IDF’s statement comes after Pope Francis issued a sharp condemnation of the alleged attack following his Sunday Angelus on Dec. 17.
“I continue to receive very serious and painful news from Gaza. Unarmed civilians are subjected to bombings and shootings,” the Holy Father said.
“And this even happened inside the parish complex of the Holy Family, where there are no terrorists, but families, children, sick and disabled people, nuns,” he said.
“Yes, it’s war, it’s terrorism,” the pope said.
In the aftermath of Saturday’s reported attack, other Catholic leaders weighed in, including Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, who said in a Saturday statement that the bishops were calling “for an immediate cessation of all hostilities, the release of hostages, and for earnest negotiations towards a peaceful resolution of this conflict.”
“We resolutely join our voices with the Holy Father, Pope Francis, reminding all parties in this conflict that war is never the answer but always a defeat,” Broglio, also the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in the statement. “We plead, ‘peace, please peace!’”
Also speaking out was Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the archbishop of Westminster and the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, who took to social media to express his “horror” at the events.
“I am heartbroken at the information provided by Cardinal [Pierbattista] Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, of killings in the church compound of the Catholic Parish of the Holy Family in Gaza City,” the cardinal said in a statement.
“I have immediately sent a message to His Eminence expressing my horror at these events and assuring him of the prayers of Catholics in England and Wales,” he said.
The patriarchate’s statement “gives a picture of seemingly deliberate and callous killing by IDF soldiers of innocent civilians: an elderly woman and her daughter in the grounds of a church,” he said.
“This killing has to stop. It can never be justified.”
In an interview with the British outlet Sky News on Monday, Nichols said he did not believe the denial from the IDF, calling it “hard to believe.”
“[T]he people in Gaza and the cardinal archbishop of Jerusalem, they’re not given to tell lies,” he said.
While stopping short of joining the pope’s characterization of the attack as ”terrorism,” the cardinal said: “It’s certainly a coldblooded killing, that’s the description that is given.”
Senior adviser to the Israeli PM @MarkRegev rejects the ‘terrible’ and ‘unfounded’ accusations that the IDF specifically targeted civilians, after two women were allegedly killed by an Israeli sniper in the Holy Family Church complex in Gaza City.
Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, disputed the cardinal’s remarks during a live interview on Sky News on Monday, saying: “I would reject the categorization of the words he used: ‘coldblooded killing.’ That would indicate a deliberate targeting of civilians; that’s something we don’t do.”
“We don’t shoot people who are going to church, that just doesn’t happen. That’s not the way the IDF operates,” he added.
“To say that Israel is deliberately targeting Christian worshippers, that’s a terrible accusation that is unfounded.”
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Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Aug 7, 2019 / 02:20 pm (CNA).- Fr. Willy Milayi is a Missionary of the Immaculate Conception who lives in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He works rescuing children who fled the coltan mines and offering them a place to live and learn a trade.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one the world’s top producers of coltan, a rare mineral used the manufacture of many electronic devices, such as cell phones.
Working conditions in the DRC’s coltan mines are dangerous and the workers, including young children, are often exploited.
“The exploitation of these mines is in the hands of the guerrillas,” explained Fr. Malayi in an interview with the Diocese of Málaga in Spain.
“Our cell phones are stained with the blood of the ‘walking dead children’.”
Malayi works with children who have escaped forced labor in the mines. Many of them are living on the streets when he finds them. Some 20,000 children lives on the streets of Kinshasa alone.
The Missionaries of the Immaculate Conception have started an educational center in the city. He described the center as “a home where they can learn a trade that ensures them a future away from the mines and to never return to the streets.”
“We can’t solve all the problems, but we thank God for every one of the children we can rescue. It’s a true miracle that is made possible thanks to people of goodwill,” Malayi said.
The priest recounted one boy he encountered in his ministry, who had escaped the mines and fled hundreds of miles.
Starving and grief-stricken, the boy needed someone to listen to him. “After giving him something to eat, he told me about his life,” Milayi said.
The boy said that his family had been kidnapped from their house by militiamen, who took them to the forest and told them they must choose between death and mining coltan 13 hours a day.
The family chose the mines: “They worked 650 feet below the surface taking out 15 sacks of coltan a day, for which they received two dollars at the end of the month,” Milayi said.
When riots broke out against the militias, they raped and killed and the boy’s mother and two teenage sisters. They also killed his father.
“He managed to escape. But he told me amid tears: ‘I’m not afraid of death, I’m a corpse and a corpse does not fear death’,” the priest said.
At the educational center, the Missionaries of the Immaculate Conception teach the children “to take care of each other,” Malayi said.
“We have heard more than one of them say: ‘Father Willy taught us that when we are older we’ll have to help.’ I think this is a very important step,” he said.
Malayi called on Christians to “defend the dignity of the person, the image of God” and recognize the value of each person as a brother or sister.
“In our world this concept has been lost, and we have put material things ahead of people,” he said. “What is killing us today is indifference. We don’t want to know anything about other people’s problems, and we just talk about our own. What is more worrisome than material poverty is spiritual poverty.”
This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Pope Francis at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square, Oct. 5, 2016. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA.
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 13, 2023 / 13:15 pm (CNA).
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the election of Pope Francis as the 265th successor of St. Peter. Here is a timeline of key events during his papacy:
2013
March 13 — About two weeks after Pope Benedict XVI steps down from the papacy, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio is elected pope. He takes the papal name Francis in honor of St. Francis of Assisi and proclaims from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica: “Let us begin this journey, the bishop and people, this journey of the Church of Rome, which presides in charity over all the Churches, a journey of brotherhood in love, of mutual trust. Let us always pray for one another.”
March 14 — The day after he begins his pontificate, Pope Francis returns to his hotel to personally pay his hotel bill and collect his luggage.
July 8 — Pope Francis visits Italy’s island of Lampedusa and meets with a group of 50 migrants, most of whom are young men from Somalia and Eritrea. The island, which is about 200 miles off the coast of Tunisia, is a common entry point for migrants who flee parts of Africa and the Middle East to enter Europe. This is the pope’s first pastoral visit outside of Rome and sets the stage for making reaching out to the peripheries a significant focus.
Pope Francis gives the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 2, 2013. . Elise Harris/CNA.
July 23–28 — Pope Francis visits Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to participate in World Youth Day 2013. More than 3 million people from around the world attend the event.
July 29 — On the return flight from Brazil, Pope Francis gives his first papal news conference and sparks controversy by saying “if a person is gay and seeks God and has goodwill, who am I to judge?” The phrase is prompted by a reporter asking the pope a question about priests who have homosexual attraction.
Nov. 24 — Pope Francis publishes his first apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel). The document illustrates the pope’s vision for how to approach evangelization in the modern world.
2014
Feb. 22 — Pope Francis holds his first papal consistory to appoint 19 new cardinals, including ones from countries in the developing world that have never previously been represented in the College of Cardinals, such as Haiti.
March 22 — Pope Francis creates the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. The commission works to protect the dignity of minors and vulnerable adults, such as the victims of sexual abuse.
Pope Francis greets pilgrims during his general audience on Nov. 29, 2014. Bohumil Petrik/CNA.
Oct. 5 — The Synod on the Family begins. The bishops discuss a variety of concerns, including single-parent homes, cohabitation, homosexual adoption of children, and interreligious marriages.
Dec. 6 — After facing some pushback for his efforts to reform the Roman Curia, Pope Francis discusses his opinion in an interview with La Nacion, an Argentine news outlet: “Resistance is now evident. And that is a good sign for me, getting the resistance out into the open, no stealthy mumbling when there is disagreement. It’s healthy to get things out into the open, it’s very healthy.”
2015
Jan. 18 — To conclude a trip to Asia, Pope Francis celebrates Mass in Manila, Philippines. Approximately 6 million to 7 million people attend the record-setting Mass, despite heavy rain.
March 23 — Pope Francis visits Naples, Italy, to show the Church’s commitment to helping the fight against corruption and organized crime in the city.
May 24 — To emphasize the Church’s mission to combat global warming and care for the environment, Pope Francis publishes the encyclical Laudato si’, which urges people to take care of the environment and encourages political action to address climate problems.
Pope Francis at a Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on June 17, 2015. Bohumil Petrik.
Sept. 19–22 — Pope Francis visits Cuba and meets with Fidel Castro in the first papal visit to the country since Pope John Paul II in 1998. During his homily, Francis discusses the dignity of the human person: “Being a Christian entails promoting the dignity of our brothers and sisters, fighting for it, living for it.”
Sept. 22–27 — After departing from Cuba, Pope Francis makes his first papal visit to the United States. In Washington, D.C., he speaks to a joint session of Congress, in which he urges lawmakers to work toward promoting the common good, and canonizes the Franciscan missionary St. Junípero Serra. He also attends the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, which focuses on celebrating the gift of the family.
Oct. 4 — Pope Francis begins the second Synod on the Family to address issues within the modern family, such as single-parent homes, cohabitation, poverty, and abuse.
Oct. 18 — The pope canonizes St. Louis Martin and St. Marie-Azélie “Zelie” Guérin. The married couple were parents to five nuns, including St. Therese of Lisieux. They are the first married couple to be canonized together.
Dec. 8 — Pope Francis’ Jubilee Year of Mercy begins. The year focuses on God’s mercy and forgiveness and people’s redemption from sin. The pope delegates certain priests in each diocese to be Missionaries of Mercy who have the authority to forgive sins that are usually reserved for the Holy See.
2016
March 19 — Pope Francis publishes the apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia, which discusses a wide variety of issues facing the modern family based on discussions from the two synods on the family. The pope garners significant controversy from within the Church for comments he makes in Chapter 8 about Communion for the divorced and remarried.
April 16 — After visiting refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos, Pope Francis allows three Muslim refugee families to join him on his flight back to Rome. He says the move was not a political statement.
Pope Francis at the General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, Feb. 24, 2016. Daniel Ibanez/CNA.
July 26–31 — Pope Francis visits Krakow, Poland, as part of the World Youth Day festivities. About 3 million young Catholic pilgrims from around the world attend.
Sept. 4 — The pope canonizes St. Teresa of Calcutta, who is also known as Mother Teresa. The saint, a nun from Albania, dedicated her life to missionary and charity work, primarily in India.
Sept. 30–Oct. 2 — Pope Francis visits Georgia and Azerbaijan on his 16th trip outside of Rome since the start of his papacy. His trip focuses on Catholic relations with Orthodox Christians and Muslims.
Oct. 4 — Pope Francis makes a surprise visit to Amatrice, Italy, to pray for the victims of an earthquake in central Italy that killed nearly 300 people.
2017
May 12–13 — In another papal trip, Francis travels to Fatima, Portugal, to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima. May 13 marks the 100th anniversary of the first Marian apparition to three children in the city.
July 11 — Pope Francis adds another category of Christian life suitable for the consideration of sainthood: “offering of life.” The category is distinct from martyrdom, which only applies to someone who is killed for his or her faith. The new category applies to those who died prematurely through an offering of their life to God and neighbor.
Pope Francis greets a participant in the World Day of the Poor in Rome, Nov. 16, 2017. L’Osservatore Romano.
Nov. 19 — On the first-ever World Day of the Poor, Pope Francis eats lunch with 4,000 poor and people in need in Rome.
Nov. 27–Dec. 2 — In another trip to Asia, Pope Francis travels to Myanmar and Bangladesh. He visits landmarks and meets with government officials, Catholic clergy, and Buddhist monks. He also preaches the Gospel and promotes peace in the region.
2018
Jan. 15–21 — The pope takes another trip to Latin America, this time visiting Chile and Peru. The pontiff meets with government officials and members of the clergy while urging the faithful to remain close to the clergy and reject secularism. The Chilean visit leads to controversy over Chilean clergy sex abuse scandals.
Aug. 2 — The Vatican formally revises No. 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which concerns the death penalty. The previous text suggested the death penalty could be permissible in certain circumstances, but the revision states that the death penalty is “inadmissible.”
Aug. 25 — Archbishop Carlo Viganò, former papal nuncio to the United States, publishes an 11-page letter calling for the resignation of Pope Francis and accusing him and other Vatican officials of covering up sexual abuse including allegations against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. The pope initially does not directly respond to the letter, but nine months after its publication he denies having prior knowledge about McCarrick’s conduct.
Aug. 25–26 — Pope Francis visits Dublin, Ireland, to attend the World Meeting of Families. The theme is “the Gospel of family, joy for the world.”
Pope Francis at the 2018 World Meeting of Families in Ireland. . Daniel Ibanez/CNA.
Oct. 3–28 — The Synod on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment takes place. The synod focuses on best practices to teach the faith to young people and to help them discern God’s will.
2019
Jan. 22–27 — The third World Youth Day during Pope Francis’ pontificate takes place during these six days in Panama City, Panama. Young Catholics from around the world gather for the event, with approximately 3 million people in attendance.
Feb. 4 — Pope Francis signs a joint document in with Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, titled the “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together.” The document focuses on people of different faiths uniting together to live peacefully and advance a culture of mutual respect.
Pope Francis and Ahmed el-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar, signed a joint declaration on human fraternity during an interreligious meeting in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Feb. 4, 2019. Vatican Media.
Feb. 21–24 — The Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church, which is labeled the Vatican Sexual Abuse Summit, takes place. The meeting focuses on sexual abuse scandals in the Church and emphasizes responsibility, accountability, and transparency.
Oct. 6–27 — The Church holds the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region, which is also known as the Amazon Synod. The synod is meant to present ways in which the Church can better evangelize the Amazon region but leads to controversy when carved images of a pregnant Amazonian woman, referred to by the pope as Pachamama, are used in several events and displayed in a basilica near the Vatican.
Oct. 13 — St. John Henry Newman, an Anglican convert to Catholicism and a cardinal, is canonized by Pope Francis. Newman’s writings inspired Catholic student associations at nonreligious colleges and universities in the United States and other countries.
2020
March 15 — Pope Francis takes a walking pilgrimage in Rome to the chapel of the crucifix and prays for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. The crucifix was carried through Rome during the plague of 1522.
March 27 — Pope Francis gives an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi blessing in an empty and rain-covered St. Peter’s Square, praying for the world during the coronavirus pandemic.
Pope Francis venerates the miraculous crucifix of San Marcello al Corso in St. Peter’s Square during his Urbi et Orbi blessing, March 27, 2020. Vatican Media.
2021
March 5–8 — In his first papal trip since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis becomes the first pope to visit Iraq. On his trip, he signs a joint statement with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani condemning extremism and promoting peace.
July 3 — Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, who was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope Francis, is indicted in a Vatican court for embezzlement, money laundering, and other crimes. The pope gives approval for the indictment.
July 4 — Pope Francis undergoes colon surgery for diverticulitis, a common condition in older people. The Vatican releases a statement that assures the pope “reacted well” to the surgery. Francis is released from the hospital after 10 days.
July 16 — Pope Francis issues a motu proprio titled Traditionis custodes. The document imposes heavy restrictions on the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass.
Dec. 2–6 — The pope travels to Cyprus and Greece. The trip includes another visit to the Greek island of Lesbos to meet with migrants.
Pope Francis greets His Beatitude Ieronymos II in Athens, Greece on Dec. 5, 2021. Vatican Media
2022
Jan. 11 — Pope Francis makes a surprise visit to a record store in Rome called StereoSound. The pope, who has an affinity for classical music, blesses the newly renovated store.
March 19 — The pope promulgates Praedicate evangelium, which reforms the Roman Curia. The reforms emphasize evangelization and establish more opportunities for the laity to be in leadership positions.
May 5 — Pope Francis is seen in a wheelchair for the first time in public and begins to use one more frequently. The pope has been suffering from knee problems for months.
Pope Francis greeted the crowd in a wheelchair at the end of his general audience on Aug. 3, 2022. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
July 24–30 — In his first papal visit to Canada, Pope Francis apologizes for the harsh treatment of the indigenous Canadians, saying many Christians and members of the Catholic Church were complicit.
2023
Jan. 31–Feb. 5 — Pope Francis travels to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. During his visit, the pope condemns political violence in the countries and promotes peace. He also participates in an ecumenical prayer service with Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Moderator of the Church of Scotland Iain Greenshields.
Smoke billows into the air behind a Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church in Kyiv, Ukraine, after a missile attack on July 8, 2024. / Credit: Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
CNA Staff, Jul 9, 2024 / 12:19 pm (CNA).
The head of the Ukrainian Greek Cat… […]
6 Comments
How would they know WHO shot those people? The Jews famously respect civilians when possible and would have no reason to target people INSIDE a church, unless said church was harboring Hamas Terrorists. Secondly, snipers shoot from very far distances away, and keep well hidden in order to stay alive themselves. It seems highly unlikely anyone got a look at who did the shooting at all. So on the basis of what FACT do the people in Gaza claim it was the IDF who shot these people?? Sound like yet more Gazan propaganda. The Pope took the wrong side of the covid problem by allowing churches to be shuttered with his cooperation. Maybe he should stick to theology and leave politics and fighting wars to the parties involves. Especially since NEITHER party in this altercation is even Christian??? Too many stories are being reported as fact in recent years before all the FACTS are actually in.
Hello Benjamin.
Most CEO’s go with the information their informants provide them with. They don’t have time to research every single thing on their own. Especially in a global institution like the Church.
Unfortunately, the Pope’s informants in the Holy Land keep getting it wrong. I wish Pope Francis used the internet and he could access Israel’s news coverage to get some background and balance.
The Patriarchate’s name is Pizzaballa, and he reportedly claimed that IDF’s sniper killed the women. What evidence formed his belief is unclear.
Another question: Were the women in proximity to the Holy Family Church or were they were killed somewhere in the PARISH. The reports I’ve read say the women were killed within the Holy Family Parish. Typically, in the U.S. a church belongs to a parish, but a parish may consist of large swathes of land.
Wikipedia: “Pizzaballa was a signatory on the “Statement on the Escalating Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza” which condemned attacks on civilians, called for de-escalation, and asked the Israeli government to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. The statement was criticized by Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen as “inconceivable”.[17]
On 16 October 2023, Pizzaballa stated the “barbarism of Hamas [is] unacceptable and incomprehensible”,[3] and offered himself as a hostage in exchange for captive Israeli children held in Gaza.[4]”
How would they know WHO shot those people? The Jews famously respect civilians when possible and would have no reason to target people INSIDE a church, unless said church was harboring Hamas Terrorists. Secondly, snipers shoot from very far distances away, and keep well hidden in order to stay alive themselves. It seems highly unlikely anyone got a look at who did the shooting at all. So on the basis of what FACT do the people in Gaza claim it was the IDF who shot these people?? Sound like yet more Gazan propaganda. The Pope took the wrong side of the covid problem by allowing churches to be shuttered with his cooperation. Maybe he should stick to theology and leave politics and fighting wars to the parties involves. Especially since NEITHER party in this altercation is even Christian??? Too many stories are being reported as fact in recent years before all the FACTS are actually in.
Why would Pope Francis or anyone just automatically blame the IDF ?
Hello Benjamin.
Most CEO’s go with the information their informants provide them with. They don’t have time to research every single thing on their own. Especially in a global institution like the Church.
Unfortunately, the Pope’s informants in the Holy Land keep getting it wrong. I wish Pope Francis used the internet and he could access Israel’s news coverage to get some background and balance.
The Patriarchate’s name is Pizzaballa, and he reportedly claimed that IDF’s sniper killed the women. What evidence formed his belief is unclear.
Another question: Were the women in proximity to the Holy Family Church or were they were killed somewhere in the PARISH. The reports I’ve read say the women were killed within the Holy Family Parish. Typically, in the U.S. a church belongs to a parish, but a parish may consist of large swathes of land.
Wikipedia: “Pizzaballa was a signatory on the “Statement on the Escalating Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza” which condemned attacks on civilians, called for de-escalation, and asked the Israeli government to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. The statement was criticized by Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen as “inconceivable”.[17]
On 16 October 2023, Pizzaballa stated the “barbarism of Hamas [is] unacceptable and incomprehensible”,[3] and offered himself as a hostage in exchange for captive Israeli children held in Gaza.[4]”
Further reporting is that the women were killed within the church ‘compound.’
The Jerusalem Post had more information about this.