Gaza Children’s Shroud on Display in Manhattan
MANHATTAN — A hand-scribed cloth bearing the names of thousands of children killed in the Gaza war is on display as part of an international movement calling attention to the children who have died and urging people to work for peace.
The Gaza Children’s Shroud began in Italy in 2025. Organizers have brought the project to the United States, where people are invited to inscribe the names of children who have been killed. The pieces are intended to eventually be joined into one large shroud.
The New York appearance marks the international launch of a year-round effort, organizers said. The shroud is scheduled to continue to Washington, D.C., where the full cloth is expected to be unfurled on the National Mall.
The project has also become an opportunity for people to reflect and pray.
“We had the shroud in the parish for a weekend, and it was amazing how well-received it was,” said Father Tim Taugher of Priests Against Genocide. “People were moved by the experience of signing the names of children and also by the realization that they didn’t realize the magnitude of this.”
The movement is rooted in what organizers describe as the prophetic tradition of the church, encouraging Christians to respond to suffering by speaking out and working for peace.
Pope Leo XIV has emphasized peace during his pontificate. In a January 2026 letter marking the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi, Leo called on Christians to become “unarmed and disarming witnesses of the peace that comes from Christ.”
A special Year of St. Francis began Jan. 10, 2026, and runs through Jan. 10, 2027.
The pope has also spoken about young people suffering in Gaza and other areas affected by war. During the 2025 Jubilee of Youth, he expressed solidarity with young people in Gaza, Ukraine, and other war-torn regions.
For those participating in the shroud project, the names are meant to put individual lives behind the broader statistics of war.
“We all mourn the dead children. We all have a responsibility, and by our faith, which has a commonality — really, the foundation and the core is love — is to act that love out,” said Martha Miller of Doctors Against Genocide. “Which means speaking up for these children who were murdered.”
Organizers say the project is intended to cross national, political and religious boundaries by focusing on the loss of children.
“These are our children. It doesn’t matter where they’re from,” said Imam Saffet Catovic, director for U.N. operations with Justice for All. “If children are hurt, they are children. We need to care for them.”
The shroud’s journey to Washington is intended to bring the names directly to the nation’s capital and encourage lawmakers to take notice.
Organizers say people involved in the project will continue inscribing names, saying them aloud, and praying for the children each year as part of the ongoing movement.