‘You are in the heart of the Pope,’ Leo XIV tells Middle East’s Christians

July 22, 2025

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CWN Editor's Note: At the conclusion of his July 20 Angelus address, Pope Leo XIV pleaded for peace in the Middle East and read aloud the names of those killed in the Israeli military strike on Gaza’s Catholic parish.

“I express my profound sadness regarding last Thursday’s attack by the Israeli army on the Catholic Parish of the Holy Family in Gaza City, which as you know killed three Christians and gravely wounded others,” the Pope said. “I pray for the victims, Saad Issa Kostandi Salameh, Foumia Issa Latif Ayyad, Najwa Ibrahim Latif Abu Daoud, and I am particularly close to their families and to all the parishioners.”

“Sadly, this act adds to the continuous military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza,” he continued. “I again call for an immediate halt to the barbarism of the war and for a peaceful resolution of the conflict.”

The Pope added:

I renew my appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and to respect the obligation to protect civilians, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force and the forced displacement of the population.

To our beloved Middle Eastern Christians I say: I deeply sympathize with your feeling that you can do little in the face of this grave situation. You are in the heart of the Pope and of the whole Church. Thank you for your witness of faith. May the Virgin Mary, woman of the Levant, dawn of the new Sun that has risen in history, protect you always and accompany the world towards the dawn of peace.

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