Pope Francis on Sunday condemned an Israeli attack on the only Catholic church in Gaza as “terrorism.”
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Catholic authority in the region, said Saturday that the Holy Family Church’s compound in Gaza City was under Israeli bombardment and that Israeli Defense Forces snipers killed two women on the grounds.
“A sniper of the IDF murdered two Christian women inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza, where the majority of Christian families have taken refuge since the start of the war,” the patriarchate said.
The two women, an elderly woman and her daughter, were shot and killed while walking to a nun convent on the grounds of the parish, and seven more people were wounded by gunfire. “No warning was given, no notification was provided. They were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the parish, where there are no belligerents,” the patriarchate said.
The patriarchate said that earlier in the day, IDF tank fire targeted the Convent of the Sisters of Mother Theresa on the parish grounds, where 54 disabled persons live. The Israeli attack destroyed the building’s generator, its only source of electricity, as well as its fuel and water resources. The tank fire left the home uninhabitable, and the 54 people who lived there “are currently displaced and without access to the respirators that some of them need to survive.”
According to Vatican News, Israelis have claimed a rocket launcher is present at the parish, but Catholic authorities say there are only unarmed civilians on the compound. Pope Francis said on the parish grounds there are “no terrorists, but families, children, people who are sick and have disabilities, and nuns” and that in Gaza, “unarmed civilians are the targets of bombings and gunfire.”
The pope named the two Christian women who were killed, Nahida Khalil Anton and her daughter, Samar Kamal Anton. “Some say, ‘This is terrorism. This is war.’ Yes, it is war. It is terrorism,” he said. “That is why the Scripture affirms that ‘God stops wars… breaks the bow, splinters the spear’ (Psalm 46:10). Let us pray to the Lord for peace.”
Over 19,000 Palestinians, including over 7,500 children, have been killed by the Israeli onslaught in Gaza since it began on October 7 after the Hamas attack on southern Israel. Despite the massive civilian death toll, the US continues to support the slaughter in Gaza with unconditional military aid.
I am to the point now of suggesting to our US government to withhold any further monies to your country or people….
Donna; I love you and your comments but you are naive and misguided if you think that the US government does not know exactly what it is going. This is but the second round in a Championship bout for control of the world also to be fought against China. Where in hell did you ever get the impression that the wishes of citizens matter?
The federal government will give your and mine and 99.9% of Americans’ suggestions about 0 consideration. They serve a handful of billionaires and a some of millionaires as well. Including the good folks at AIPAC.
wooooo aidpac wooooo.
It was terrorism before they killed Catholics. They may have surpassed Nazis in inhumanity:
PA health minister seeks probe into deadly Israeli raid on Gaza hospital
Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila has called for an “urgent probe” after Israeli forces were accused of crushing Palestinians, including wounded patients, using bulldozers in the yard of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.
On Saturday, doctors and other witnesses said Israeli forces bulldozed tents housing displaced Palestinians near the hospital – one of the 11 hospitals still functioning inside Gaza since Israel launched its military offensive on October 7 – and crushed them to death….
Witnesses told Al Jazeera that civilians were deliberately targeted.
“People were buried alive using bulldozers. Who could do that? All those who committed this crime should be brought to justice and taken to the international criminal court,” a witness said.
Several videos shared on social media also appear to show people crushed under the rubble in front of the Kamal Adwan Hospital.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/17/pa-health-minister-seeks-probe-into-deadly-israeli-raid-on-gaza-hospital
IMHO nothing except massed miltary might and international sanctions against the fascist Genocidal state of Israel will have any effect or change Israels course.
No one wants WWIII. It needs to be international court and arrests.
There is just no genocide or fascism here.Case closed.
Meanwhile, the Ukraine war goes on,Tibet is forgotten about, and China will do as it pleases with Taiwan.
This is all making my blood boil. How can anyone rationalize this?!
In terms of desperate clutches of fading hegemony, it makes sense to psychopaths.
“If you try to usurp my dominance, you will be met with unrivaled cruelty”. And the US supports it.
What supporters outside of government don’t fully comprehend, is that once you condone it, you risk the same treatment somewhere down the road if you dissent.
No kidding. Anything goes for them in regards to keeping their power and control. I know this.
BTW, police in the US have received training from the Israeli military.
Yes, I have read about this.
Most people on this site seem to be more informed than others.
I agree. I appreciate all your posts and info.
They can’t. Which is why the Zionists are hell bent on demanding censorship of any opposing viewpoints.
As Stalin said”How many divisions does he have”?
But it is the mos powerful testimony. Pope sees himself, and doctrinally he is, father to these victims. It’s elemental, prior to politics and historical grievances, like all the Gazan’s we’ve seen wailing the loss of children. … and Biden posing the pious Irish Catholic …
Ah, Bergoglio strikes again. Like the chime of the proverbial stopped clock, at best. What about the other 23:58 hours in the day?
The Pope may be getting closer to be “labeled” with “a label” that I’m not going to mention here, if you know what I mean, wink wink.
The label as meaningless in 2023 as the wolf who cried boy? Meaningless to everyone except the billionaires who own the US and their various lackeys, that is.
“The wolf who cried boy!”. LOL. That’s a great one. I was thinking “the wolf who cried wolf,” but “the wolf who cried boy” is even more twisted. I like your version better.
Israel continues to pound Gaza by air, land and sea, killing scores of people from individual families in what has become a horrific daily occurrence in the long-suffering territory.
Areas in southern Gaza are being hit after hundreds of thousands fled from the north to those areas, with human rights groups affirming that “there is no safe place” in the entirety of the territory.
In recent days, Israeli forces have attacked a Catholic church complex in Gaza City, executed three captives who were seeking safety, and stormed hospitals in both the north and south of the territory.
Israeli forces shot and killed two women – a mother and daughter – inside the Holy Family Parish complex in Gaza City, “where the majority of Christian families [have] taken refuge since the start of the war,” the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said on Saturday.
The women, identified as Nahida and Samar Anton, “were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the parish, where there are no belligerents,” the patriarchate added.
An Israeli tank crew also fired at a convent in the church compound, the patriarchate said, destroying its generator and fuel resources and causing an “explosion and massive fire.”
The attack displaced 54 people with disabilities who are now “without access to the respirators that some of them need to survive.”
During his weekly blessing, Pope Francis condemned the attack as “terrorism”:
The IDF and Israeli government need to be wiped out totally not the citizens. What governs Israel now is pure evil in its intent and stated goals.
But the pope was silent, he said not a word about the brutal death of thousands of young children, nothing about the hell they experience on a daily basis. Nothing from him or any one of the Cardinals or Bishops.
“But the pope was silent, he said not a word about the brutal death of thousands of young children, nothing about the hell they experience on a daily basis.”
He started expressing “concern” about the effects of the Israeli attacks on Gaza on October 11.
You not listening is not the same thing as him not talking.
He could have been a LOUD voice for human rights, morals and human integrity and decency and just plain empathy for the brutally killed babies, even in incubators, he could have pointed to the lies and propaganda and the consequences of blockades and shut doors preventing any escape or shelter. MAYBE he whispered it and I missed it. Maybe you can provide a link to his voice of morality and peace as Jesus Christ preached it.
With out the IDf,peaceful Israeli citizens would be all dead or displaced very quickly. Shooting wildly and crazy is part of war-the US in Vietnam,Russia in the Ukraine,France in Algeria.
Unarmed civilians have been the target for since Oct. 19 000 people, more than 50% children, have been killed, and he said nothing until 2 Catholic women got killed.
He never spoke out against the massacre of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the WB, he never excommunicated Biden. Where was he all that time? But the popes always worked well with the people in power, including Hitler.
Winning the hearts and minds…
Only two Catholics get killed and THEN he calls it terrorism?
“The pope named the two Christian women who were killed, Nahida Khalil Anton and her daughter, Samar Kamal Anton.” Time for Israel to send their most honest IOF Spokesman and Retired Admiral, Daniel Hagari, into the Catholic Parrish in Gaza to investigate. I’m sure he can get to the bottom of it and clear up any confusion. (…Yes, —–. This is definitely Sarcasm)
I wonder if this motivates my local parish to say a prayer for the fallen of Gaza this Sunday instead of just the Ukrainians like they always do…
Why does the Church have a such a soft spot for Nazis?
They were always part of the ruling class, see their influence used concerning abortions, and the Hitler concordat is still in use in Germany, it is mostly about money. Government collects taxes for them and pays salaries for priests and ministers and building maintenance.
The Pope is OK… To hell with the rest of them.
Who stopped him from preaching his believes in humanity, of simple human kindness? IMHO it was his duty to speak up loud and clear, he has influence in the Christian community and he did not use his power of influence as head of the Catholic church and faith. He is old, true, but he has people who stand in and serve him. (politics is another matter)
Well he called it right this time.
Who is “they”
When I say “THEY” I always mean the leading pathologically criminal elite, the hierarchy, not the people, the secular or religious elite.
“The doors being locked for fear of the Jews.”
But that didn’t keep Jesus out..
“Peace be with you.”
did he condemn the recent destruction of the Al Hammah Tunesia synagogue?
“A light unto the Nations.”