Pope made nightly phone calls to the Holy Family Catholic church from the start of the war in October 2023

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/29004856

Bethan McKernan in Jerusalem and Malak A Tantesh in Gaza Tue 22 Apr 2025 10.32 EDT

"The first time he spoke to #PopeFrancis during the pontiff’s nightly calls to the Holy Family Catholic church in #Gaza City, the congregant George Antone, 44, found himself at a loss for words.

It was October 2023, a few weeks after #Hamas ignited a devastating war in the Gaza Strip by attacking #Israel. The #Palestinian territory’s tiny Christian community had taken shelter in the strip’s three churches, but that didn’t mean they were safe. An #Israeli airstrike had just hit the Greek Orthodox church, killing 18 people; soon, snipers and bombs would also kill civilians at the Holy Family."