Pope Leo XIV called on Netanyahu to cease Israeli attacks on Gaza

Vatican City, July 18 – Pope Leo XIV held a telephone conversation today with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he renewed his call for diplomatic actions to end the attacks on Gaza.

A statement from the Holy See Press Office indicates that Netanyahu's call to the Supreme Pontiff took place Friday morning, "following yesterday's Israeli military attack against the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza, which left three people dead and several others seriously injured."

“During the conversation, the Holy Father reiterated his call for a renewed push for negotiations, a ceasefire, and an end to the war,” the note states.

In that exchange with the Israeli leader, Leo XIV reiterated "his concern for the dramatic humanitarian situation of the population of Gaza, whose extreme suffering is particularly affecting children, the elderly, and the sick," and the urgency of protecting places of worship, the faithful, and the entire population.

Also on that day, the Bishop of Rome telephoned the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who, along with Orthodox Patriarch Theophilus III, entered Gaza with humanitarian aid following the Israeli bombing of the Catholic parish in the Strip, according to the Vatican News website.

In his conversation with Pizzaballa, the leader of the Catholic Church reaffirmed that he will do everything possible "to stop the senseless massacre of innocents," thinking of the victims, both those of yesterday's attack on the parish in Gaza, and "all those in this moment of sorrow in the Holy Land and the Middle East."

In a message sent the day before to the Argentine priest Gabriel Romanelli, the parish priest of the Catholic Church of the Holy Family, who was wounded in the bombing, Pope Leo XIV expressed his "deep sadness" over this Israeli attack.

In that telegram, signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, the Pontiff expressed his "hope for dialogue, reconciliation, and lasting peace in the region," where nearly 60,000 Palestinians have already died as a result of Tel Aviv's bombing on the Gaza Strip.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem confirmed that the attack on Thursday morning against this church, which provides shelter to about 500 people, caused serious damage to it, as well as a high number of injuries, several serious ones, and the death of three people. (Source: Prensa Latina)