U.S. bishops stress need for immediate ceasefire after deadly attack on Gaza parish
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Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. / Credit: USCCB videoWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 18, 2025 / 16:00 pm (CNA).Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has called for peace and an "immediate ceasefire" following the bombing of the only Catholic church in Gaza."With the Holy Father, the Catholic bishops of the United States are deeply saddened to learn about the deaths and injuries at Holy Family Church in Gaza caused by a military strike," Broglio wrote in a Thursday statement. The July 17 Israeli strike killed three people and injured nine others, including the parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli."Our first concern, naturally, goes out to Father Gabriel Romanelli and all his parishioners, most especially to the families of those killed," Broglio said. "Our prayers are for them during these tragic times."The statement follows a message from Pope Leo XIV on the social media plat...
Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. / Credit: USCCB video
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 18, 2025 / 16:00 pm (CNA).
Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has called for peace and an "immediate ceasefire" following the bombing of the only Catholic church in Gaza.
"With the Holy Father, the Catholic bishops of the United States are deeply saddened to learn about the deaths and injuries at Holy Family Church in Gaza caused by a military strike," Broglio wrote in a Thursday statement.
The July 17 Israeli strike killed three people and injured nine others, including the parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli.
"Our first concern, naturally, goes out to Father Gabriel Romanelli and all his parishioners, most especially to the families of those killed," Broglio said. "Our prayers are for them during these tragic times."
The statement follows a message from Pope Leo XIV on the social media platform X that said: "I commend the souls of the deceased to the loving mercy of Almighty God and pray for their families and the injured. I renew my call for an immediate ceasefire. Only dialogue and reconciliation can ensure enduring peace!"
In agreement, Broglio wrote: "With the Holy Father, we also continue to pray and advocate for dialogue and an immediate ceasefire. Yesterday was the memorial of Our Lady of Mount Carmel; through her intercession, may there be peace in Gaza."
On Friday, CNA reported that Pope Leo received a phone call from Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, following yesterday's Israel Defense Forces attack on Holy Family Church in Gaza.
During the conversation, the Holy Father renewed his call for the urgent reactivation of the negotiation process in order to establish a ceasefire and end the war. He expressed his deep concern for the humanitarian situation in Gaza as well as the urgent need to protect places of worship "and the faithful and all people living in both Palestine and Israel."
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Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa (L) and a members of a Christian visit the Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza City on July 18, 2025. / Credit: OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 19, 2025 / 11:30 am (CNA).Bishop William Shomali, the auxiliary bishop for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, said this week the community has been "very distressed" following the bombing of Holy Family Church in Gaza, with the prelate calling for the protection of nearby Chirstian villages. On July 17, the Israeli military bombed the only Catholic parish in Gaza. The strike killed three and injured nine, including the parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli. The Israel Defense Forces subsequently apologized for the strike, stating that "fragments from a shell fired during operational activity in the area hit the church mistakenly." Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa later seemed to imply that the strike was intentional, telling an Italian newspa...
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St. Thomas More. / Credit: Public domainCanterbury, England, Jul 19, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).The skull of St. Thomas More may be exhumed and preserved to coincide with the 500th anniversary of his historic martyrdom, according to a spokesperson for St. Dunstan's Church in Canterbury, England, the Anglican church in which the relic reportedly currently rests.As the church begins the initial steps in a "permissions process," Sue Palmer, churchwarden at St. Dunstan Parochial Church Council (PCC), told CNA the council welcomes input from everyone interested in the saint and "would very much welcome communication with the Vatican.""It is unusual to have any relics in an Anglican church, especially those of a Catholic saint, and the PCC see this as an opportunity for ecumenical outreach and cooperation," she said.After More was beheaded in 1535 on the orders of King Henry VIII, his head was initially placed on a spike and displayed on London Bridge as a warning to those who dared to ch...
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The funeral of Father Donald Martin Ye Naing Win (left), who was martyred in Myanmar on Feb. 14, 2025. / Credit: Archdiocese of MandalayACI Prensa Staff, Jul 18, 2025 / 15:30 pm (CNA).The Vatican news agency Fides reported that nine people were sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder of a 44-year-old priest in Myanmar, a crime that shocked a country that has been enveloped in civil war since 2021.According to the article published July 17, a court affiliated with the Ministry of Justice of the National Unity Government (NUG), the government in exile that leads the opposition, sentenced the nine defendants for the murder of Father Donald Martin Ye Naing Win, a priest of the Archdiocese of Mandalay, who was killed on Feb. 14 on the grounds of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in the Shwe Bo district in the Sagaing region.According to investigations, those convicted were part of local armed groups linked to the People's Defense Force (PDF), the resistance force that controls the "...
