From Gaza, Father Gabriel Romanelli, pastor of the local Catholic community, shared a moving message in which he describes the desperate situation faced by the civilian population under the bombings. In his intervention published on September 23 on his YouTube channel, the Argentine priest spoke of the virtue of piety as a path to God and to others, but also as an urgent cry amid the violence:
“Here everyone implores mercy, out of compassion to stop this war, to stop killing, to stop bombing”.
The daily suffering in Gaza
The pastor recounted the daily experience of the war: nearby explosions, shrapnel reaching the streets, accumulating deaths, and shattered families. “Every day there are deaths and more deaths. I don’t even know what to say to them, because more than once we are left speechless”, he confessed.
Romanelli emphasized the lack of progress on humanitarian issues: hostages are not released, bodies are not returned, sufficient aid does not enter, and attacks do not stop. In the midst of this panorama, he highlighted the calls from Pope Leo XIV and the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem to end the conflict:
“In the face of so much violence, so much evil, so much impiety, we must cling more to God to try to be better, even in the small things, praying for everyone”.
Pray for everyone, without excluding anyone
The priest insisted on the universal prayer: for Christians, Jews, Muslims, and non-believers, for all those who suffer and die. “All have been created by God, all were redeemed by the blood of Christ, and all are called to participate in the life of the Most Holy Trinity”, he explained.
He recalled that since entering the seminary in 1988, he prays for distant and suffering peoples, and that from his mission in Gaza, he does so every day for fallen Israelis and Palestinians, “in the circumstances in which they have fallen”.
The altar, center of peace amid war
Romanelli defined the Eucharist as the true “altar of peace”: “On the altar, the perfect sacrifice is offered, the victim of expiation for sins, for absolutely everyone. Jesus Christ, who came to bring peace”.
In the midst of the helplessness of not being able to help so many victims, he remembered that suffering can be offered to God, like Christ on the cross:
“His sacrifice seemed useless, and yet he preached with his cross, offering his pains to God for the salvation of all”.
Under shelter in the parish
The priest recounted that the parish has become a refuge for most of Gaza’s Christians. After each Mass, a moment of calm can be broken by new explosions:
“Today, as soon as they went out a little into the open air, a loud bang was heard 500 or 700 meters away, and everyone ran back to the church, which is one of the firmest places we have as a shelter”.
He asked the faithful to join in prayer to Our Lady of Sorrows so that she may console those trapped under the rubble or without the possibility of escape, and concluded by imparting his blessing:
“May God in his mercy have pity on everyone and grant us the end of this war”.