Pope Leo XIV just posted: “War is never inevitable. Weapons can and must fall silent, for they never solve problems but only intensify them. Those who sow peace will endure throughout history, not those who reap victims. Others are not enemies to hate but human beings with whom to speak.”
KATHY BOYLAN, [email protected]
Boylan is a member of the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker community in Washington, D.C. and has been is holding a vigil at the Papal Nuncio in Washington, D.C. on Mondays beginning at noon “imploring Pope Leo XIV to go immediately to Gaza.”
New video of her and other activists urging Pope Leo XIV to go to Gaza has just gone viral on instagram. TRT World reports: “A group of pro-Palestine Catholic organisers gathered in front of the Vatican Embassy in Washington DC on May 12, calling on newly elected Pope Leo XIV to embark on a humanitarian mission to Gaza to demand an immediate ceasefire as Israel wages genocide on the Palestinian people. An estimated 500,000 Palestinians in Gaza are at risk of starvation, according to a report produced on May 12 by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative. Protesters believe the brutalisation of Gaza could be swiftly ended if the Pope takes a stand and voyages to the enclave in defense of the oppressed.”
RootsAction.org just posted an action alert: “Ask Pope Leo XIV to Visit Gaza“: “Congratulations on your new position, and thank you for having already spoken in support of ending all wars. We believe it could be very beneficial for the cause of peace, and in particular the lives of the people of Palestine, if you were to visit Gaza right away. Will you please consider it?”
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, repeatedly visited Gaza last year.
Kathy Kelly recently wrote: “’Yesterday, children were bombed,’ Pope Francis said in his final Christmas message last December. ‘Children. This is cruelty, this is not war.’ … Pope Francis was speaking about the children of Gaza, who have been orphaned, maimed, sickened, starved, forcibly displaced, traumatized, and buried under fire and rubble. In excerpts from the book Hope Never Disappoints. Pilgrims Towards a Better World, published in November 2024, he was blunt about Israel’s accountability, writing: “What is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide. It should be investigated to determine whether it meets the definition formulated by jurists and international bodies. …
“During the current war, beginning in 2023, Pope Francis developed a strong relationship with parishioners of the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza. By holding virtual gatherings with the hundreds of people sheltering in the church, he was able to stay in daily touch with the realities they faced under Israel’s siege and bombardment. On days when he learned that the bombing was particularly heavy, Pope Francis would call to check in on them 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.”