Church and civil officials discussed the upcoming event at a July 23 press conference (video).

The commission also found that “Nigeria’s federal and state authorities continue to tolerate attacks by nonstate entities who often justify their violence on the basis of a religious ideology and specifically target vulnerable religious communities.”

As head of the region’s Franciscan province, the custos is responsible for pastoral care at the Holy Land’s shrines, as well as in 17 schools and in the parishes entrusted to it by the Latin Patriarchate.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew spoke of his “sacred desire for unity—a unity not grounded in uniformity, but in the shared truth of the Gospel, in mutual love, and in our common baptism into the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Ecumenical Patriarch also condemned the Israeli military strike on Gaza’s Catholic parish:

We condemn this horrendous act against the Holy Family Church, which held a very special place in the heart of the late Pope Francis, who, even during the difficult period of his hospitalization, did not cease to call the priest of this community on a daily basis since the outburst of the war.

This was an attack not only on a place of worship, but on a sanctuary where hundreds of people, irrespective of religion, found a home and a shelter during this period of trial and tribulation.

Bishop Giraud said that he was “appalled” by the appointment. While Archbishop de Kerimel had said he was showing mercy to the priest, Bishop Giraud countered: “I don’t think a bishop can show mercy without taking into account the victims.”

The FBI monitored the priest’s travel and credit-card purchases, looking for more information, according to the House report, which found: “There appeared to be no legitimate law-enforcement purpose for investigating this priest.”

Pope Leo “entrusts the deceased to the merciful love of the Almighty” and is “praying that their families and friends may be consoled in their grief, and for the healing and comfort of the injured,” Cardinal Parolin wrote.

Father Carlo Alberto Capella, an Italian priest who worked in the nunciature in Washington, was sentenced by a Vatican court in 2018 and released in 2023.

“People are being starved to the point of famine; children are bombed while waiting for therapeutic nutrition and vaccines,” the charity stated. “For the love of the God of Abraham and in the name of humanity, Caritas Internationalis as the humanitarian arm of the Catholic Church, demands the Israeli Government immediately stop its atrocities and persecution of the Palestinians.”

Stating that “history will not forgive this barbarism and complicity,” Caritas demanded that nations “stop the military support to the state of Israel or any other support that aids or abets it in these atrocities.”

Caritas also denounced proposals to remove Palestinians from Gaza:

The Israeli Government is planning to forcibly evict the entire population of almost 2 million people of Gaza to a non-existent camp in Rafah, which Ehud Olmert, former Prime Minister of Israel, has described as a “concentration camp” and “part of an ethnic cleansing.”

Cardinal Parolin said that Christians and others who have died in attacks there “are the object of an unacceptable violence; all are victims of a conflict that must end as soon as possible.”

Khalil Tahir Sandhu, a Catholic attorney, said that “this directive offers hope to the affected families ... The blasphemy law in Pakistan, as it stands today, lends itself to being exploited and manipulated.”

During the telephone conversation, which lasted more than an hour, the Pope renewed his appeal for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations to end bloodshed in Gaza. “He again expressed his concern about the tragic humanitarian situation of the population in Gaza, whose children, elderly and sick are paying an agonizing price,” the Vatican reported. He also stressed the need to protect the security of sacred sites and houses of worship throughout the Holy Land.

Four people were injured in the morning attack, including the pastor, Father Gabriel Romanelli.

Holy Family Church is the only Catholic parish in Gaza. During the last months of his life, Pope Francis had made it his practice to speak with Father Romanelli every day, offering encouragement to the little Catholic community.

The Latin-rite Catholic Patriarchate of Jerusalem condemned the attack as “a flagrant violation of human dignity and a blatant violation of the sanctity of life and the sanctity of religious sites.” The patriarchate noted that the parish complex is now sheltering “approximately 600 displaced persons, the majority of whom are children, and 54 people with special needs.”

Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, reporting on the shelling, said: “What we know for sure is that a tank—the IDF says by mistake, but we are not sure of this—they hit the church directly.”

“Dying of hunger and thirst is unjust and unjustifiable,” said Father Ibrahim Faltas, OFM, vicar of the Custody of the Holy Land. “Food, medicine, and electricity have not entered Gaza for months; these vital necessities are blocked just kilometers from those who need them, and this is inhumane.”

“We are hopeful that the peace agreement signed by the foreign ministers of the DRC and Rwanda on June 27th in Washington will serve as a tangible step towards addressing the complex crisis that has caused such grave violence,” Bishop A. Elias Zaidan wrote in a letter to ACEAC’s president, in reference to the DRC-Rwanda peace agreement.

“The shrapnel, not only the shrapnel, but also the rocks fell on two elderly women who were under the church in a tent, and they died,” he told Vatican media. He also described the serious injuries suffered by a religious-order postulant.

Dalit Catholics—members of what was once known as the “untouchable” caste—had protested that they were excluded from involvement in the organization of the annual festival.

As a matter of policy, pregnant girls are expelled from Catholic schools and asked to attend state schools instead.