At a press conference following their pastoral visit to Gaza, the Greek Orthodox and Latin Patriarchs of Jerusalem issue a joint appeal to world leaders and decision makers, calling for “an end to the war, the release of detainees, and the beginning of a true healing process that restores life and dignity to Gaza and the entire Holy Land”.
“Christ is not absent from Gaza,” Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa said on Tuesday. “He is there—crucified in the wounded, buried under rubble, and yet present in every act of mercy, every candle in the darkness, every hand extended to the suffering.”
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem was speaking at a press conference with Eastern Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III, following the prelates’ recent pastoral visit to Gaza. In his opening remarks, Cardinal Pizzaballa insisted that the two patriarchs had travelled to the war-torn Palestinian territory not as politicians or diplomats, but as pastors. He insisted that the Church will never abandon the people of Gaza, emphasizing that their mission was not to a specific group, but to all: “Christians, Muslims, believers, doubters, refugees, children.”
‘Servants of the suffering Body of Christ’
His sentiments were echoed by Patriarch Theophilos, who said they had gone to Gaza “as servants of the suffering Body of Christ, walking among the wounded, the bereaved, the displaced, and the faithful, whose dignity remains unbroken despite their agony.” In Gaza, he said, “we encountered a people crushed by the weight of war, yet carrying within them the image of God.”
The Orthodox Patriarch explained that “the Church’s mission in times of devastation is rooted in the ministry of presence, of standing with those who mourn, of defending the sacredness of life, and of witnessing to the light that no darkness can extinguish.”
Fr Romanelli (centre) on a visit to London last year with Bishop Nicholas Hudson (l). Photo: ICN
Pax Christi England and Wales
Pax Christi England and Wales and Pax Christi International have issued the following statements in response to the deadly attack on the Holy Family Church in Gaza yesterday.
This morning’s horrific news that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) struck the Holy Family Church in Gaza is both shocking and shameful. We know that at least six people are injured, including Fr Romanelli, and that two people have been killed. Lord have mercy.
If we are ever to overcome the myth of redemptive violence, then our response is never revenge.
Our response is never apathy. Our response is never neutrality. Instead, we dare to proclaim the revolutionary power of Jesus’ way of nonviolence. The way of the cross, the way of redemptive suffering, that ultimately leads to joy, hope, peace and resurrection.
Today it might seem that we are in the darkness of the tomb. Yet even inside the tomb something is happening. Young people in Tel Aviv are burning their draft cards and refusing to fight for the IDF. Across the world people are non-violently resisting the sale of arms to Israel. Acts of solidarity, prayer and fasting are the tools by which we bring about a revolution of the heart – one person at a time.
Let us never forget the power we each have to make a difference. The works of war destroy lives, land, and futures. The works of mercy support life and bring hope. Let’s commit ourselves afresh to pray and act in every way possible to make real our solidarity with the suffering people of Gaza and bring an end to this genocide in which the UK government is complicit.
Pax Christi International
Pax Christi International supports the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem and strongly condemns today’s Israeli military strike on Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza, a place of sanctuary for displaced civilians.
We stand in solidarity and prayer with all those Christians and Muslims sheltering in the parish compound.
We mourn those who have died, Mr Saad Salameh, Mrs Fumayya Ayaad and Najwa Abu Daoud. We pray that they will rest in peace and send our deepest condolences to their families and friends. We hope for a good recovery for Fr Gabriel and all those injured in the attack.
We echo Pope Leo XIV and the Latin Patriarchate in calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
As the Patriarch has said, ‘The time has come for leaders to raise their voices and to do all that is necessary in order to stop this tragedy, which is humanly and morally unjustified.’
Pax Christi calls on the international community, political and religious, to raise their voices and take urgent action to protect all civilians and humanitarian spaces to enable:
– An immediate and permanent ceasefire and immediate access to humanitarian aid for everyone in Gaza, to be distributed through UNWRA and other experienced NGOs; -The release of all hostages, Israeli and Palestinian; -A complete arms embargo on Israel; -An end to all trade with illegal Israeli settlements; -An end to the Israeli siege on Gaza and the occupation of the West Bank.
Following the shelling by an Israeli tank of the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza with reports of two deaths, serious injuries, and extensive damage to church buildings, Cardinal Vincent Nichols said:
‘I condemn this appalling strike on the Holy Family Church in Gaza, pray for the dead and injured, and stand in solidarity with Fr Gabriel Romanelli and the people sheltering in the compound – Christians and Muslims alike.
‘For twenty months, the Church of the Holy Family has managed to be a place of sanctuary and spiritual support amidst the horrors of war, feeding and protecting hundreds of people.
Westminster Justice and Peace will be among Christians from many different churches gathering at 12pm this Saturday, 19th July 2025, at Victoria Embankment Gardens to join the latest National March for Palestine in London.
Contact Colette Joyce, Westminster Justice and Peace Co-ordinator if you are interested in joining her –
More than 84,000 people are known to have died in Gaza since October 2023. Thousands more are missing under the rubble. There are tens of thousands of child amputees. Meanwhile on the West Bank there have been more and violent attacks by illegal Israel settlers on peaceful Palestinian communities – with over a thousand deaths.
Christians For Palestine say: “Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute” (Proverbs 31:8). Break the chains of injustice! End the Apartheid! Free Palestine!”
Pax Christi are joining the National March for Palestine as it passes through Waterloo. Meet outside St. John’s Church, 73 Waterloo Road, London, SE1 8TY if you would like to join at this point. Contact info@paxchristi.org.uk
LINKS
To receive future updates on all actions with Christians for Palestine join their mailing list email: ChristiansForPalestineUK@gmail.com
Bishop Nicholas Hudson, Auxiliary Bishop in Westminster with responsibility for Justice and Peace, Chair of the International Affairs Department of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and Moderator of the Holy Land Coordination, has condemned the alarming escalation in settler violence taking place in the West Bank town of Taybeh.
On Tuesday, 8 July, priests representing the town’s three Christian churches issued a joint statement about the repeated attacks on their land, holy sites, and property. They reported an account of arson that threatened the 5th century church of Saint George (Al-Khadr), one of the oldest religious sites in Palestine, and highlighted an on-going campaign of violence and intimidation that impacts on the security and stability of Taybeh.
Bishop Nicholas Hudson learned about the challenges facing the town and the local community when he visited the Catholic Church of Christ the Redeemer in January as part of an international delegation of bishops meeting in the Holy Land.
He said: “Just six months ago, I was in Taybeh visiting what is now the last remaining entirely Christian town in the West Bank, as part of the annual Holy Land Co-ordination meeting.
“We were able to hear firsthand from Fr Bashar Fawadleh, parish priest of the Church of Christ the Redeemer, about the extreme pressure being placed on the local community by Israeli settlers acting with impunity.
“In recent days we have learned of an alarming escalation in settler violence and intimidation that is going unchecked by the authorities. The local churches have appealed to the international community for help and solidarity, and we wish them to know that we have heard their cry. We strongly condemn these attacks and all acts of intimidation perpetrated against civilians in Taybeh and across the West Bank, and we urge the relevant authorities to take decisive action to prevent such incidents from happening again.
“Taybeh, or ‘Ephraim’ as it is known in the Bible, holds deep significance to Christians. These deliberate and repeated attacks are a violation of human dignity and international law in a place that once offered shelter to Christ himself.
“The Palestinian Christians we encountered in January stressed to us that all they want to do is live and work in peace in their own lands, without the paralysing restriction of movement placed upon them, so they can provide for their families and live side-by-side with their neighbours.
“We encourage the Catholic faithful in England and Wales to pray for the suffering Christians and all those affected by this violence in the West Bank. Equally, we invite all people of goodwill to raise their voices in the face of oppression and injustice, urging our leaders to use their influence to bring an end to this persecution.
“It is important to echo the cry of the Taybeh church leaders when they say that the Holy Land cannot remain alive without its indigenous people. As they say, ‘Forcibly removing farmers from their land, threatening their churches, and encircling their towns is a wound to the living heart of this nation’. We stand in solidarity with the Christians of Taybeh and the wider Holy Land, who have a right to live in safety and security. With them, we have faith that truth with justice will prevail.”
A Christian service of remembrance for those who have died during the war in Gaza will be held at the Foreign Office in King Charles Street, London, SW1A 2AH, on Monday, 28 July, from 12.30pm -1.30pm
During our prayer, we will read out some of the names from a list of 50,000 people who are known to have died so far in Gaza, (many thousands more are missing under the rubble) – a name for each 28th day of the month since the war started.
The killings of so many are not just statistics. They are individuals with faces and names. The families of many have not been able to honour their dead with dignity. In a token way, through this short service, we try to honour them by telling some of their stories.
Organisations coming together to pray include the following: Westminster Justice and Peace, The London Catholic Worker, Pax Christi.
Bishop Jim Curry is an auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Westminster
Bishop Jim Curry, the Lead Bishop for the Holy Land for the Bishops’ Conference, has joined our former Middle East North Africa consultant, Dr Harry Hagopian, as a special guest on his monthly Middle East Analysis podcast. Contributing to a discussion on Gaza, the West Bank and the wider region of the Holy Land, Bishop Curry said that when Christians pray for peace, it can be both supplication and a cry of protest.
“Obviously, the Christian always wants to pray, and we can’t just dismiss prayer as fanciful. Prayer is a cry of protest as well as supplication,” says Bishop Curry. “The fact that we can pray in our churches publicly for the situation in Palestine and Gaza, in the West Bank, that we remember our Christian brothers and sisters and the wider community is important. So we can’t ever dismiss it.”
Bishop Curry also spoke about the Christian presence in the Holy Land as foundational and a vital part of the rich tapestry of the region:
“One of our fundamental tenets is to go on pilgrimage, because these lands are holy to us, they are holy to the Jews, and to Muslims. Christians have been part of the mosaic of those lands for over 2,000 years, they belong there. They’re not interlopers. They’ve built schools, they’ve built churches, they’ve built communities. So going to visit them is important for us. When we last visited [for the Holy Land Coordination], we were able to visit Bethlehem, Beit Jala, where the Latin Patriarch has a seminary, Aboud, and Taybeh. We were able to show that they are not forgotten. But I’m always conscious that afterwards, we walk away. We walk away and leave communities to struggle with lack of access to jobs, to security, to freedom of movement.”
The Bishop also shared his first impressions of the Palestinian city Ramallah, the administrative capital, that he visited in January 2025 as part of the Holy Land Coordination meeting, organised by the Bishops’ Conference:
“I’d never been to Ramallah, and as I looked around as we entered the city I saw a peaceful, busy, bustling city with cafes and buses, restaurants and shops, and people about their business.
“It was a warm day, with a blue sky, and I thought ‘that’s what normality looks like’. People don’t run away from normality. We were asking ourselves, ‘what would normality look like?’ And there we saw it. Someone whispered into my ear, ‘You should have seen Gaza. It was bigger and more well-organised’. Now all we see are these images of rubble and people being displaced – hungry and frightened. I’d seen a different reality in Ramallah, a place that worked. I’m sure people complain about the services there, but I saw something different and it stayed with me.”
In the face of conflict, death, destruction and extreme hardship, Bishop Curry offers a suggestion to enable us to cling to a shard of hope:
“What can we do? We can go on advocating that normality is possible, that people can live well together. People want to live well together… Everywhere we went, we heard this plea, ‘We just want to live normal lives. We want jobs, we want our kids to go to school, we want them to be able to play their part in this land when they come back after university’. It still comes back to me, that image of what normality is. People don’t run away from normality.”
He reserved special praise and heart-felt prayers for the small Catholic community of the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza:
“They are giving a witness to the possibility that our despair can’t be the final word about the human situation. That little community there, the Holy Family in Gaza, they are a living sign that human beings can live together, and they can work together for each other’s good.”
Westminster Justice and Peace will be joining Christians for Palestine and representatives from other Christian groups to take part in this national action for Palestine outside of Parliament on Wednesday 4th June 2025, during Prime Minister’s Questions.
The organisers say: “Last week, the UK government announced a suspension of trade negotiations with Israel and sanctions on a limited number of individuals. It is too little and too late, especially given that Israel has clearly stated, and has shown over the past days, that it intends to deepen its genocide. However, as Israel openly uses starvation as a weapon of war, cracks are appearing in the political establishment. Now is the time to put pressure on the Government, MPs and Parliament to act.
People will begin to assemble at 11.30am around parliament to coincide with Prime Minister’s Questions at noon. Dress in red and join others holding a fabric red line to encircle parliament.”
Look for us outside Methodist Central Hall, Storey’s Gate, London, SW1H 9NH, at 11.00am.
Auxiliary Bishop in Westminster and Lead Bishop for the Holy Land for the Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Jim Curry, has echoed Pope Leo XIV’s call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza1:
“This is a humanitarian disaster. Desperately needed aid supplies must be allowed into Gaza to be urgently distributed to civilians. The human cost is intolerably high with tens of thousands of weary, regularly displaced people threatened with starvation. We need an immediate ceasefire to end the suffering.
“As Pope Leo said at his first General Audience2, children, the elderly and the sick are paying a very heavy price, and I would echo the Holy Father’s heartfelt appeal for ‘dignified’ humanitarian aid to be allowed to pass into Gaza – not just an inadequate trickle of food and supplies that has been promised in recent days.”
Bishop Curry also referenced Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s joint statement, with the leaders of Canada and France, on the situation in Gaza, released on 19 May:
“International humanitarian law has to be respected and a viable pathway to de-escalation and peace sought by Israel and Hamas, supported by the international community,” said Bishop Curry.
“The remaining hostages in Gaza, held for 19 months since the Hamas terror attack on 7 October, must be released to put an end to their suffering and that of their families. I welcome the statement by the UK Prime Minister and the leaders of France and Canada, particularly the assertion that the best hope of achieving this and alleviating the pain and hardship facing the civilians in Gaza is to work tirelessly for a long-term political solution.
“It is important not to lose sight of the legitimate right of Palestinians to self-determination. The Church has consistently advocated for a two-state solution to enable Palestinians and Israelis to live side by side in peace.”
Bishop Curry said he was also praying for the Christians of Gaza:
“I continue to pray for Fr Gabriel Romanelli and the Christian community sheltering in the compound of the Holy Family Church, north of the Wadi. It is a humbling inspiration to all of us outside the conflict zone to witness their strength of faith in the Risen Christ, and how they continue to lead a humble sacramental life despite the incredible hardship and distress they are facing.”
Bishop Jim Curry is the Lead Bishop for the Holy Land for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and is a member of the Department for International Affairs.
Colette Joyce, our Co-ordinator, attended this Service on behalf of Westminster Justice and Peace.
The Temple Church in London and Co-Cathedral of the Most Holy Name of Jesus in Jerusalem were the settings for an historic simultaneous ecumenical service on Tuesday 20th May 2025, marking the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. The event featured a livestream broadcast from the two churches and shown on screens.
At the Council of Nicaea, in the year 325, church leaders formally assembled to agree on Christian doctrine and endorse the Nicene Creed.
The choice of the Temple Church for this event was particularly significant. It was built in 1162 to recreate the Rotunda of the Holy Sepulchre, or Anastasis, in Jerusalem, commissioned by Constantine soon after the Council of Niceae.
Organisers at the Temple church said yesterday’s service was planned “to bring us all together in unity to pray for peace in the midst of the current troubles in the Holy Land and in our shared concern for the founding communities of our faith.”
As the clergy processed into both churches the Temple Singers led the hymn: Jerusalem the Golden.
In London, Cardinal Vincent Nichols welcomed those present with a blessing. He then delivered a message prepared for the occasion by the late Pope Francis in which he prayed for peace in the Holy Land and prayed this “commendable initiative” which he said “bears eloquent witness to the rich religious tapestry that characterises the land of Our Saviour’s birth and calls attention too the enduring desire for peace held dear by its citizen’s today.”
In Jerusalem Cardinal Pizzabella welcomed everyone in the first words of Pope Leo XIV as Pope:
“Peace be with all of you!”
He said: “Dearest brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the Risen Christ, the good shepherd who gave his life for God’s flock . I too would like this greeting of peace to enter your hearts, to reach your families, and all people whoever they are, all of the people all over the earth.
This is the peace of the Risen Christ, an unarmed peace and a disarming peace, humble and persevering .It comes from God. God, God who loves us all unconditionally . We still have in our ears that weak , but always courageous voice off Pope Francis as he blessed Rome!
The Pope who blessed Rome gave his blessing to the world that Easter morning. Allow me to follow up on that same blessing.: God loves us. God loves you all, and evil will not prevail.
We are all in the hands of God. Therefore without fear, united hand in hand with God and among ourselves we move forward. We are disciples of Christ.
Christ preceded us. The world needs his light. Humanity needs him as the bridge to allow it to be reached by God and his light.”
Diocese of Westminster Justice and Peace Commission 