Skip to content

Gaza Priest After Speaking With Pope Francis: ‘We Rejoice To Hear His Voice’

Father Gabriel Romanelli, IVE, pastor of Holy Family Parish, Gaza’s only Catholic parish, spoke with Pope Francis on Tuesday despite the pontiff’s critical hospitalization for bilateral pneumonia.

Father Gabriel Romanelli, IVE, the pastor of Holy Family Parish, the only Catholic parish in the Gaza Strip, was able to speak with Pope Francis on Tuesday despite the fact that the pontiff remains hospitalized in critical condition with bilateral pneumonia.

After the phone call, the parish priest shared how the entire community rejoiced “to hear his voice.”

“As he did every day from the beginning of this terrible war, Pope Francis has called us once again to show his closeness, to pray for us, and to give us his blessing,” Romanelli said in a video message posted on the website of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

“As the Parish of the Holy Family of Gaza, which belongs to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, we rejoice to hear his voice,” he added. 

At the beginning of the war between Hamas and Israel, the parish complex was converted into an improvised shelter where 500 people now live.

The majority who live there are Christians, Orthodox, Protestant, and Catholic, but they have also taken in more than 50 Muslim children with disabilities along with their families.

For Romanelli, Pope Francis’ daily call, which was only interrupted last Saturday when he suffered a prolonged respiratory crisis that forced him to wear an oxygen mask, “is always comforting.”

Especially “knowing that despite his delicate state of health, he continues to think and pray for everyone, for peace in Gaza,” he said in the video recorded in English. He also thanked the pontiff for his “constant prayers.”

“It gives us great joy even in the midst of so many trials,” Romanelli said, adding that “we follow all the information about the pope’s health, like all of you, from the official channels of the Holy See.”

Finally, he asked for prayers for the end of the war and for “peace for the entire Holy Land and the entire Middle East.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER HERE

Receive the most important news from EWTN Vatican via WhatsApp. It has become increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social media. Subscribe to our free channel today

Share

Would you like to receive the latest updates on the Pope and the Vatican

Receive articles and updates from our EWTN Newsletter.

More news related to this article

Pope Francis Reminds that the Church “Is in the World but Not of the World”

Pope Francis met with priests from the Secular Institute of Missionary Priests of the Kingship of Christ, reminding them that the Church, similar to the baptized, is "in the world, for the world, but not of the world."

The remarkable life and papacy of Blessed Pope Pius IX

On Feb. 7, the Catholic Church remembers Blessed Pius IX, “Pius Nono,” the 255th pope. His pontificate is

‘Not Much New’ Will Come Out of This Year’s Synod, Vatican’s Doctrine Chief Predicts

New Vatican Chief of Doctrine Downplays Expectations for Upcoming Synod of Synodality

Pope’s Leo First Angelus from Castel Gandolfo

The last Pope who met crowds of the faithful in Castel Gandolfo at the Sunday Angelus prayer was Benedict XVI in September 2012, 13 years ago.

LIVE | Pope Francis’ Holy Mass for Benedict XVI & Deceased Cardinals & Bishops

Sign up here: https://mailchi.mp/ewtn/vatican  LIVE | Holy Mass by Pope Francis in suffrage of Pope Benedict XVI, the

Pope at Angelus: ‘Material things do not give fullness to life’

During his first Angelus address of the month, Pope Francis asked his listeners on Sunday to seek the

LIVE
FROM THE VATICAN

Be present live on EWTN.it