By Paulina Guzik
ROME (OSV News) — As the Holy Land marked a grim first anniversary Oct. 7 of the Hamas attack on southern Israeli communities and subsequent Israel-Hamas war that has devastated the Gaza Strip, the papal almoner raised $35,000 in one afternoon from delegates to the Synod on Synodality and immediately sent it to Holy Family Parish in Gaza City.
“In addition to $35,000 donated by synodal delegates in one day, the Holy Father topped the sum with additional $32,000 and that same night the money was sent to the nunciature in Jerusalem,” Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, told OSV News.
He asked synod members in Rome to give alms after their synodal session Oct. 7, a day of prayer, fasting and penance for peace in the Holy Land. Almsgiving “must make us suffer, must hurt us, because we give up what belongs to us in order to give to our neighbor who is in need or even about to die,” he said.
All funds collected in a “big, huge” basket in front of the synod hall were sent through the papal embassy in Jerusalem to Father Gabriel Romanelli, parish priest at Holy Family Parish, “whom the pope calls every day at 4 p.m.,” Cardinal Krajewski said.
Father Romanelli gathered the parish children that night to thank synod delegates for their generosity. In a video obtained by OSV News, he said that “with a little group” of children, representing over 500 people sheltering in the parish premises, he wanted to “thank the Holy Father, Pope Francis, the synodal fathers, for all you did to help, through the almoner, Cardinal Konrad.”
Father Romanelli was thankful for the “prayer, closeness and concrete help” because “everyone needs everything” in Gaza, he said in the video.
Cardinal Krajewski said he played the video to synod delegates Oct. 8 and they were “very moved,” seeing over 30 children and some parents with Father Romanelli in the middle, surrounded by his flock.
During an Oct. 7 Mass accompanied by recitation of the rosary and vespers for peace in the Holy Land, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa said in Jerusalem’s pro-cathedral that “what has happened and is happening in Gaza leaves us stunned and beyond understanding.”
But as “on one hand diplomacy, politics, multilateral institutions and the international community have shown all their weakness,” the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem said. “On the other, we have also been supported.”
Cardinal Pizzaballa stressed that “the Holy Father has repeatedly called on all parties involved to stop this drift, but he has also expressed human solidarity with our community in Gaza in concrete ways and has also given them concrete support.”
Cardinal Krajewski told OSV News that “in the Gospel there is no ‘I’ll help tomorrow’ — in the Gospel there is a ‘now,’ there is an urgency to help, and that’s exactly what needed to happen on Oct. 7,” he stressed. “They need our support now, not tomorrow,” he said, expressing happiness that the basket “filled up quickly” and he could send the funds to Jerusalem “that same evening.”
Pope Francis sent a letter to Catholics in the Middle East on Oct. 7, the day “the fuse of hatred was lit,” something that “did not sputter, but exploded in a spiral of violence.” Christians who decided to remain in the land “of which the Scriptures speak most often,” he said, are “sprouts of hope.” The pope thanked them for “wanting to remain in your lands” and “being able to pray and love despite everything.”
The pontiff told Catholics living through difficulties of war in the region that “the light of faith leads you to testify to love amid words of hatred, to encounter amid growing confrontation, to unity amid increasing hostility.”
“Pope Francis remembers about Gaza Christians every day. He calls every day but also, as we can see by this fundraiser, sends concrete help,” Cardinal Krajewski said.
“This is the position of the church — we don’t leave anyone behind — and even if we can’t be there physically, we are close and want to show it in every possible way,” the papal almoner said.
Amid the horrors of Hamas attack that saw 1,200 Israelis killed on Oct. 7 and 250 taken hostage and the subsequent Israel-Hamas war that to date has left over 42,000 Palestinians dead in the Gaza Strip, according to Gaza Health Ministry, Cardinal Pizzaballa said that “in such dramatic context, let us face it: This year has put our faith in a test. It is not easy to live in faith during these hard times.”
“The words ‘hope’, ‘peace’, ‘coexistence’ seem to us to be theoretical and far from reality. … But it is exactly here that our Christian faith must find a visible expression,” he said.
“We are called to think beyond the logic calculations, we cannot stop only at human reflections that trap us in our grief, without opening perspectives,” he said. “We are called to read these challenges in the light of the Word of God, a Word that accompanies and widen our hearts. And we have to continue doing so.”
The patriarch concluded, “In this time when violence seems to be the only language, we will continue to speak of and believe in forgiveness and reconciliation. In this time that is full of pain, we want to and will continue to use words of consolation and give concrete and relentless comfort where the pain grows.”
“Even if we have to start anew every day,” he said, “even if we may be seen as irrelevant and useless, we will continue to be faithful to the love that has won us and be new people in Christ, here in Jerusalem, in the Holy Land, and wherever we are.”