VATICAN CITY (RNS) — In a recorded message, the parish priest of the only Catholic Church in Gaza spoke about the struggles of the roughly 500 refugees sheltered there, including 50 children, as hope dwindles amid continued bombings by Israeli forces.
“While the bombings continue, unfortunately the situation will continue to worsen,” said the Rev. Gabriel Romanelli, the Gaza parish priest, adding that every bomb “means more death, more injuries, more destruction, less hope from a humanitarian point of view.”
Romanelli’s recorded remarks were shared during a meeting of Italian journalists in Ascoli Piceno, Italy, on Tuesday (June 10). Pope Francis would call the Gaza parish every evening at 8 p.m., even during his hospitalization at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, placing the church under the international spotlight. The parish continues to ring its bells at the same hour to remember those calls, known affectionately as the “pope’s hour.”
Christians and Muslims of all ages find shelter at the parish, which has been transformed into a home and refuge from the Israel-Hamas war. What were once classrooms have become bedrooms hosting 10 to 15 people “who have lost everything — their families, loved ones, their family home, their schools, their workplace. The situation is terrible,” the priest said.
Romanelli, a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, said …