Every night during war, Pope Francis called Gaza's only Catholic Church in 'singular expression of love'

On Monday night, following the news of the death of Pope Francis, Father Gabriel Romanelli's cellphone did not ring at 8 p.m. as it normally would. 

This was normally the time the pontiff would call the priest at the Holy Family Church in Gaza City every night throughout the war to check on how those huddled inside Gaza's lone Catholic church were coping with a devastating war. 

In an interview with CBC News chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault on Monday, Romanelli recalled how children in the church would run over to listen in when he would take the Pope's calls with his vice rector, Father Youssef Assaad. He says they would cheer "The Pope! Viva Papa!" (Long live the Pope!) and ask for his blessings. 

Usually, he said, when the phone rang at 8 p.m., people knew it was time for "Santo Padre," referring to the Italian phrase meaning Holy Father.

So on Monday, when the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had died at age 88, Gaza's tiny Christian community gathered at the church to mourn and pray in his honour. 

In addition to his nightly communications with Palestinian Christians in Gaza, Pope Francis also made public comments about the Israel-Hamas war. 

It began after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel, which left 1,200 Israelis dead and some 250 people taken hostage in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's responding onslaught on the Gaza Strip, Gaza Health Ministry officials say.  

In November 2023, Francis met separately with Israeli relatives of hostages held by Hamas, as well as Palestinians with family in Gaza, and soon after told followers he had heard directly how "both sides were suffering" in the conflict. 

During his 2024 Easter message, he issued an appeal for peace, called for the release of hostages and for humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians, as well as an immediate ceasefire. 

In November the same year, in the book Hope Never Disappoints: Pilgrims Toward a Better World, by journalist Hernán Reyes Alcaide, Francis called for an investigation into whether Israel's ground offensive in Gaza constituted a genocide.

Sunday — the day before he died — in his final address from the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square, Francis again called for a ceasefire in Gaza, condemned the "deplorable humanitarian situation," and expressed his "closeness to the sufferings of Christians in Palestine and Israel and to all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people."

A fervent advocate of interfaith relations, he also urged Hamas to release the dozens of Israeli hostages it continues to hold and condemned growing global antisemitism.

But as the war was ramping up in Gaza in 2023, Romanelli said he was surprised by what was the first of many calls he would receive from Vatican City.

Soon, though, they found common ground.