Gaza’s Catholics mourn Pope Francis. ‘He used to call us at 7 p.m. every night’
GAZA CITY — For most people around the world, Pope Francis was a religious leader seen on video or read about in the news. For the congregation of a tiny Roman Catholic church in Gaza, he was the voice on the other end of the phone every night, calling to check on them in wartime.
“He used to call us at 7 p.m. every night. No matter how busy he was, no matter where he was, he always called,” George Anton, spokesperson for the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza, told NPR on Monday, the day of the pope’s death at age 88.
“He would ask us how we were, what did we eat, did we have clean water, was anyone injured?” Anton says. “It was never diplomatic or a matter of obligation. It was the questions a father would ask.”
More than 300 Palestinians have sheltered at the church since the war in Gaza began in October 2023. Another 300 have sheltered at a nearby Greek Orthodox church, where an Israeli airstrike killed 17 people early in the war. Two women at the Holy Family church were shot dead, also in 2023, by what the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem said was an Israeli military sniper. Israel denied that it targeted civilians.
The Holy Family congregation was often terrified, but the pope during his calls “drove fear from our hearts,” Anton says. “Today we feel like we are orphans.”
In a video released by the Vatican in January of the nightly routine, Pope Francis, head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, called the parish priests in a WhatsApp video call. They greeted each other in Italian while one of the priests urged parishioners to gather around.
Pope Francis asked what they ate that day. The call took place just before a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas — which would end two months later. Aid groups have warned since last year of widespread hunger and possible famine in Gaza. On that day in January, the Rev. Youssef Asaad was delighted to tell him they had chicken wings.
Anton says the pope’s final call came on Saturday, two days before he died.
As was usual, he says, Francis told them he was praying for them and said he needed their prayers.
“He told us not to worry as he would always be there for us,” says Anton. “He was with us until his last breath.”
The Gaza war has raged for one and a half years, sparked by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that killed nearly 1,200 people in Israel. The Israeli response has killed more than 51,000 Palestinians and destroyed the Palestinian enclave. The International Criminal Court is investigating charges of genocide. Israel rejects the allegations.
The war and its unprecedented toll on Palestinian civilians rarely make headlines anymore. But the Gaza parishioners say Pope Francis never let it drop.
“His was the only voice that did not go silent on what is happening here,” says Anton.
Pope Francis appeared at Easter Mass at the Vatican the day before he died, greeting crowds of worshipers and reaching out to children along the route of his vehicle. In an address delivered by his deputy, he called for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza.
In the region where Christianity began, the several hundred remaining Christians in Gaza hold tight to their faith. At Gaza City’s St. Porphyrius Greek Orthodox church on Palm Sunday last week, families carried palm fronds to commemorate the entry of Jesus to Jerusalem. Some of the women wore brightly colored, knee-length dresses.
Anton says the pope was concerned not just with Palestinian Christians but the entire Palestinian people, often asking during his calls about schools and hospitals in Gaza.
“Pope Francis believed that in Gaza people deserve to live in dignity and independence,” Anton says. “I would call on the whole world and every individual on this earth to see Gaza in the eyes of Pope Francis.”
Jane Arraf reported from Amman, Jordan.
Transcript:
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Many people around the world feel a personal connection to Pope Francis, and that includes people in the Middle East. He traveled to Iraq. He traveled to Persian Gulf nations. And there’s one place where the pope maintained a special connection even when he was deathly ill. NPR’s producer in Gaza, Anas Baba, and Jane Arraf prepared this report.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
YUSUF ASAD: Yusuf.
POPE FRANCIS: (Speaking Italian).
ASAD: (Speaking Italian).
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: This is Pope Francis in a WhatsApp call in January to the Holy Family Church in Gaza City.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ASAD: (Speaking Italian).
FRANCIS: (Speaking Italian).
ARRAF: He’s speaking to Father Yusuf Asad, a priest there. He asks what he ate. The call was during a lull in fighting between Israel and Hamas and things were better. Three months later, the ceasefire is broken and famine is setting in. But on that day, the congregation had chicken wings.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ASAD: (Speaking Italian).
FRANCIS: (Speaking Italian).
ASAD: (Speaking Italian).
ARRAF: Francis ends by saying they would talk tomorrow. Three hundred people have sheltered inside the last remaining Catholic church in Gaza since the war began. The pope, head of 1.4 billion Catholics around the world, called every evening to see how they were. The last time was Saturday, two days before he died, says George Antone, a Holy Family parish spokesman.
GEORGE ANTONE: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: Antone says Francis asked them to pray for him and to not be afraid, that he was with them.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: Outside the church, a group of children play soccer. Inside, Antone tells producer Anas Baba there’s a huge feeling of loss.
ANTONE: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: “Today, we feel like we are truly orphans,” Antone tells him. He says, no matter where he was or what he was doing, Francis would call every evening at 7.
ANTONE: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: “He would ask whether we had food, did we have clean water. Had anyone been injured? It was the questions a father would ask,” Antone says. “We lost all of this.” But that’s not all they lost with the death of Pope Francis. The Gaza war has raged for a year and a half. At least 1,600 Israelis have been killed. The Israeli response has killed more than 51,000 Palestinians and destroyed the Palestinian enclave. The war rarely makes headlines anymore, but Pope Francis never let it drop.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DIEGO RAVELLI: (Speaking Italian).
ARRAF: The day before he died, he brought up Gaza in his Easter address at the Vatican, read by his deputy. He called for a lasting ceasefire.
ANTONE: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: “He was the only voice that did not go silent,” says Antone in Gaza. There are fewer than 700 Christians left in Gaza, a region that was home to the beginning of Christianity.
ANTONE: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: Antone says Pope Francis was concerned with all Palestinians. Producer Baba asks him if there’s anything he’d like to say in English. Antone says Pope Francis believed Gazans deserve dignity and independence.
ANTONE: I would call the whole world and every individual on this Earth to see Gaza by the eyes of Pope Francis.
ARRAF: A pope who forged a personal and lasting connection with a tiny community in the midst of war.
With producer Anas Baba in Gaza, I’m Jane Arraf, NPR News, Amman.
(SOUNDBITE OF SOPHIE HUTCHINGS’ “BY NIGHT”)
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