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babylonsister

(172,002 posts) Wed Apr 23, 2025, 06:57 AM 22 hrs ago

Gaza's Catholics mourn Pope Francis. 'He used to call us at 7 p.m. every night'

Pope Francis will be missed by so many. I didn't know he did this; my esteem increases.

Gaza's Catholics mourn Pope Francis. 'He used to call us at 7 p.m. every night'
April 22, 202512:36 PM ET
By Anas Baba, Jane Arraf

GAZA CITY — For most people around the world, Pope Francis was a religious leader seen on video or read about in the news. For the congregation of a tiny Roman Catholic church in Gaza, he was the voice on the other end of the phone every night, calling to check on them in wartime.

"He used to call us at 7 p.m. every night. No matter how busy he was, no matter where he was, he always called," George Anton, spokesperson for the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza, told NPR on Monday, the day of the pope's death at age 88.

"He would ask us how we were, what did we eat, did we have clean water, was anyone injured?" Anton says. "It was never diplomatic or a matter of obligation. It was the questions a father would ask."

More than 300 Palestinians have sheltered at the church since the war in Gaza began in October 2023. Another 300 have sheltered at a nearby Greek Orthodox church, where an Israeli airstrike killed 17 people early in the war. Two women at the Holy Family church were shot dead, also in 2023, by what the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem said was an Israeli military sniper. Israel denied that it targeted civilians.

The Holy Family congregation was often terrified, but the pope during his calls "drove fear from our hearts," Anton says. "Today we feel like we are orphans."

more...

https://www.npr.org/2025/04/22/g-s1-62064/pope-francis-gaza-church-palestinian-christians