Pizzaballa, Patriarch Theophilos III visit Holy Family Church in Gaza after Israeli attack

Rome Newsroom, Jul 18, 2025 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III visited Gaza on Friday, offering spiritual support and humanitarian aid to the Holy Family Church community.

Both religious leaders led an ecclesiastical delegation into Gaza to “offer condolences and solidarity” with both Christian and non-Christian families living at the Holy Family Church compound, one day after shrapnel from an Israeli military attack fatally wounded three people and injured several others on the premises.

Approximately 600 people are living in the compound of Gaza’s only Catholic church. Most are Orthodox Christians, Protestants, and Catholics, but there are also more than 50 Muslim children with disabilities living there with their families.

The church has sheltered hundreds of refugees since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October 2023. The compound includes the church, a school, a convent, a multipurpose center, and a building for the Missionaries of Charity.

In a statement Friday, the Latin Patriarchate said it “remains steadfast” in its commitment to the Holy Family Church community and the entire population of Gaza.

In coordination with humanitarian partners, the delegation was able to deliver “hundreds of tons of food supplies as well as first-aid kits and urgently needed medical equipment” to refugees and ensure the evacuation and transportation of injured individuals to medical facilities outside Gaza.

According to the Latin Patriarchate, Pizzaballa will continue to “personally assess the humanitarian and pastoral needs of the community to help guide the Church’s continued presence and response.”

Upon their entrance into Gaza, Pope Leo XIV called Pizzaballa to “offer his support, closeness, and prayers” for the ecclesiastical delegation and the people left shaken by the Israeli attack.

Meanwhile, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, the ecumenical body that brings together the principal Christian churches in the Holy Land, on Friday condemned the latest “atrocious attack perpetrated by the Israeli army.”

“We, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, call upon world leaders and United Nations agencies to work towards an immediate ceasefire in Gaza that leads to an end of this war,” the statement read.

“We also implore them to guarantee the protection of all religious and humanitarian sites, and to provide for the relief of the starving masses throughout the Gaza Strip.”

Pizzaballa and Theophilos III’s visit to Gaza comes days after the two leaders visited the Palestinian village of Taybeh, where they spoke out against “systemic and targeted” attacks against Christians by illegal Israeli settlers in the West Bank.