Pope Francis said the people who have been trapped in a parish in Gaza had a decent meal for the first time in a long time after a ceasefire was established between Israel and Hamas.

Pope Francis said the people who have been trapped in a parish in Gaza had a decent meal for the first time in a long time after a ceasefire was established between Israel and Hamas.
As Israel and Hamas near a ceasefire, Catholic ordinaries in the Holy Land said the deal is a necessary step but also acknowledged that more has to happen to “credibly address the deep-rooted issues” at the core of the conflict.
“You have your Lebanon and its dilemma. I have my Lebanon and its beauty.” Those prophetic words were written by Kahlil Gibran in the 1920s, and some believe they may be truer today than ever before.
As the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel approached, there was a sense of calm at Columbia University — a sharp contrast to last spring, when protests rocked the campus and led the university’s president to resign. Now, with the start of Israel’s incursion into Lebanon and Iran’s subsequent missile attack on Israel, there is concern that the campus could once again see protests. Members of the Columbia University community, however, don’t expect any new demonstrations to reach the same scale as those last spring, according to Father Roger Landry, the university’s Catholic chaplain.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York said April 14 he and those he traveled with to the Holy Land “feel safe and secure” in Bethlehem after they were forced to take shelter the night before when Iran launched a missile attack against Israel.
The morning after Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel, Pope Francis pleaded with nations to avoid a further escalation of the violence.
Leaders of U.S. bishops are urging Catholics to pray during Holy Week for an end to the Israel-Hamas war.
With Israel and Hamas still unable to reach a deal to free hostages and halt their war, Catholic leaders in the northwest United States are calling for an agreement between the sides, as well as for them to negotiate a two-state solution for lasting peace.
In a letter addressed to “my Jewish brothers and sisters in Israel,” Pope Francis expressed his heartbreak at the violence unleashed by the Hamas attack on Israel in October and he repeated the Catholic Church’s condemnation of all forms of antisemitism and anti-Judaism.
As U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has insisted that Palestinians must not be pressured into leaving Gaza and must be allowed to return to their homes once conditions allow, Christians in the Holy Land worry the Israeli statements may threaten other small communities in the Holy Land, including theirs.