A Divine Liturgy is celebrated at Holy Family Church in Gaza City Dec. 15, 2023, one day before the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said that an Israel Defense Forces sniper shot and killed a mother and daughter as they walked to a convent in the Holy Family Parish compound in Gaza. (OSV News photo/ courtesy Holy Family Parish) Pope Francis condemned the Israeli military’s killing of two Christian women taking shelter at a Catholic parish in Gaza, as well as an attack on a convent, describing the IDF’s actions as “terrorism”.
The Pope’s comments came after praying the Angelus in St Peter’s Square, December 17, as Francis decried the December 16 attack on the compound of the Holy Family Catholic Parish in Gaza where, he said, “there are no terrorists, but families, children, people who are sick and have disabilities, sisters”.
He named the mother and daughter – Nahida Khalil Anton and Samar Kamal Anton – who were killed in the parish compound.
“One was killed as she tried to carry the other to safety. Seven more people were shot and wounded as they tried to protect others inside the Church compound,” said a statement by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which also specified that they were shot by a sniper of the Israeli military.
A rocket fired by an IDF tank also struck a convent of the Sisters of Mother Theresa (the Missionaries of Charity), according to the same statement. The convent is home to over 54 disabled people and has been signalled as a place of worship since the outbreak of the war.
Commenting on the violence on X, Primate of All-Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin asked, “When are these merciless attacks going to stop”?
“Our prayers from Ireland go out to all those impacted, and cry out for an immediate end to the violence,” he wrote.