Pope calls us every evening says Gaza parish priest

Luca Attanasio

Father Gabriel Romanelli, an Argentinean of Italian origin, belongs to the religious family of the Incarnate Word (Ive). He is the only Catholic parish priest in the entire Gaza Strip. His parish, dedicated to the Holy Family, is located in the al-Zaitoun quarter of Gaza city (north of the Strip) and, before the war, had about 150 faithful. From the beginning of October 2023 until last May, Father Gabriel Romanelli lived far from his parish. His return from Jerusalem was scheduled for October 7 but was postponed by one day. The Hamas attacks and the immediate outbreak of war led to the decision by the Israeli authorities to block all return permits and Father Gabriel, who was due to get back on October 8, remained far away from his parishioners. After seven very long months, taking advantage of the visit to Gaza of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, from May 16 to 19, the priest was able to re-embrace his deputy, Fr Youssef Asaad, the faithful and the refugees housed in the parish compoud (about 500 Christians, including Catholics and Orthodox from the nearby Greek Orthodox parish of St Porphyrios, ed.)

Over the past few months, he has received daily phone calls from the Holy Father, who is constantly informing himself of the situation and receiving updates on the faithful and citizens under siege in Gaza. After much difficulty getting in touch with Fr Romanelli largely due to poor connection, The Irish Catholic was able to reach him by phone.

Fr Gabriel, what did it mean to return after such a long time and what community did you find on your return?

“After very long months, it was a real grace for me to be able to return, I found a very lively community, despite everything, although not as lively as it was before. On the one hand because so many had left, then because there were 37 deaths among the faithful, 20 of them from bombings, in particular the one that devastated the Greek Orthodox church. An IDF [Israel Defence Forces] sniper killed two Catholic women right here in the compound of my parish. Then there were many wounded. The Christians here who had double passports were able to emigrate. If there is one thing that struck me on my return, however, it is to have found a sense of resilience that is always very strong, unfortunately we are used to so many wars and so many difficulties here.

One of the biggest difficulties we encountered in saying Mass was the lack of wine, which usually comes from outside Gaza”

I believe that Pizzaballa’s visit that coincided with my return comforted many. In addition, an Argentinean nun and two Chilean nuns joined us, while we are also fortunate to have with us the Provincial of the Ive, Fr Carlos Ferrero, who will stay for a while to help us.”

How is faith lived in such a dramatic context, do people still attend the parish?

“The community is very devout, before the war, we were 135 Catholics [the total number of Christians living in Gaza is 1017]. Our parish has always also been very well attended by Greek Orthodox faithful, many of them participate in parish activities and groups of all ages. During the war we continued to celebrate two Masses thanks to the presence of my deputy Youssef Asaad who has always remained here. One of the biggest difficulties we encountered in saying Mass was the lack of wine, which usually comes from outside Gaza. That is why after a while the daily Masses were reduced to just one and one adoration and recitation of the rosary. There is, however, great awareness that Jesus is here, right in our midst, in the Eucharist. Here it is a bit like an oasis, people come in, talk and pray with Jesus and Our Lady.”

Do you manage to run any activities?

“It is obvious that activities are very difficult because of the continuous bombing, which continues even now, as I speak. People can’t go out, our neighbourhood al-Zaitoun is quite quiet but the bombs fall a hundred metres away from us and even if they don’t cause casualties, they constantly terrorise the population.

There has been practically no electricity for eight months, the solar panels are almost all destroyed and diesel is very expensive. And consider that we are not even the worst situation”

We have long since reactivated the oratory and we are trying to organise activities for the children as best we can, we hold meetings in the afternoons according to age and, as far as possible, we play: I know it sounds strange, but we do everything to ensure physical and mental health. We can also count on Caritas to offer psycho-social help and on our volunteers who have resumed giving lessons to the children since the schools are closed. They give lessons in Arabic, English, maths and science and create, in the midst of this madness, some stability. It is clear that by now the year is lost for all the students, but at least we try not to make them lose the habit of studying. The Palestinian people are very cultured and educated, they love education both here in Gaza and in the West Bank, the level is very high but everything here is complicated – a glass of water, where do you get it, how do you purify it? There has been practically no electricity for eight months, the solar panels are almost all destroyed and diesel is very expensive. And consider that we are not even the worst situation, there are people who are much worse off than us, without food, water or medicine.”

Is it true that the Pope calls you every day? What do you talk about?

“Yes absolutely true, even when I was in Jerusalem. The Holy Father at 8pm calls me and Fr Youssef, and asks how we are and how the people are. He thanks us for what we are doing, for the testimony we offer, and asks us to take special care of the children.

Our faithful, then, remember well that the first state to have recognised Palestine was the Vatican State”

He rejoices at the smallest things that we tell him. By now it is a tradition and the faithful wait for the phone call, come here, bring the children, make their voices heard or ask for prayers from the Pope. It is a short phone call but very important, an enormous grace.”

Recently Ireland, along with other European states, recognised Palestine, how was the news received?

“People are very discouraged in general because there is a lot of news on the international scene that seems like promises but is often not kept. However, the recognition of Palestine by Ireland and others was very well received. Our faithful, then, remember well that the first state to have recognised Palestine was the Vatican State. Sometimes they feel the Christians of the world are distant from their cause but at the same time they experience the closeness of the universal Church, of the Pope who, as I told you, phones us every evening.”