KATHY BOYLAN, [email protected]
Boylan is a member of the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker community in Washington, D.C. Last year, a video of Boylan — “Pope Francis, go to Gaza for God’s sake!” — went viral on Instagam. She is renewing her call with increased fervor for the new pope, Leo XIV, saying: “Pope Leo XlV, as a missionary, go immediately to the concentration camp called Gaza. … You can deliver Pope Francis’ gift, the popemobile, to the starving, tortured children of Gaza. …
“After killing over 55,000 people, on March 2, 2025, the Israelis instituted a blockade of Gaza, denying the people all food, water, medicines, and other humanitarian aid. Now two million face starvation. Pope Leo XlV, genocide is occurring. As head of the Catholic Church, I beg you to act to save the lives of the Palestinian people. Go to Gaza.”
Boylan will be holding a vigil at the Papal Nuncio in Washington, D.C. on Monday beginning at noon.
Kathy Kelly of World Beyond War recently wrote that Pope Francis would phone the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza “as many as five times a day.” See piece by IPA senior analyst Sam Husseini: “Pope Francis and John Paul II were repentant for the moral failings of the Roman Catholic Church. It should now do the right thing in real time.”
MATTHEW FOX, via Dennis Edwards, [email protected],
Fox is a theologian, an Episcopal priest and an activist. His many books include A Spirituality Named Compassion, The Reinvention of Work, The Order of the Sacred Earth and A Way To God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey. He just wrote the piece “We Have a New Pope.”
ERIC LeCOMPTE, Brigid Smith, [email protected]
LeCompte, executive director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network, who advises Vatican and Catholic Church leadership, released the following statement: “Cardinal Prevost is a strong voice for the Catholic Church’s social mission to address poverty.
“As Prevost takes the name Leo XIV, he will follow the path that Francis set to build a more inclusive and transparent Church.
“The selection of the name of Leo XIV is a special acknowledgement of the need to support the poor and workers.
“Leo XIII, the previous Pope Leo, was the author of the Encyclical Rerum Novarum which became the Church’s primary teaching on the rights of workers and those who struggle for a better life and to live in dignity.
“The new Pope has a strong sense of how important the global Church is to address global challenges.
“Coming from the Augustinian religious order, Leo XIV will bring a commitment to building a world where we all have enough.
“Pope Francis followed previous Popes in establishing debt relief to address poverty as a key focus for the Church’s Jubilee holy year that’s taking place this year. Pope Leo XIV will continue that focus for this holy year.”