>>157170, >>157171, >>157172, >>157173, >>157174
We are not called to please emperors. We are called to stand for truth even when it costs us everything. If the Church cannot speak with clarity while children are starved, bombed, and crushed, then when will we speak?
I join other faithful Catholics in respectfully and fervently asking Pope Leo XIV to:
1. Name the evil that is unfolding, not with diplomatic ambiguity, but with apostolic clarity;
2. Condemn the indiscriminate targeting of civilians, including the attack on the Holy Family Church in Gaza;
3. Lead the global Church in a day of prayer and fasting for Gaza and the Holy Land;
4. Call open the doors of every Catholic church for solemn vigils of intercession, repentance, and mercy.
“Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly” (Joel 2:15).
The world will not understand this. Many within the Church will resist it. But the Holy Spirit is not sent to confirm us in cowardice.
Our Lord said to Peter, “Feed my sheep” (John 21:17). That command still echoes. And He warned the hireling who, seeing the wolf come, “leaveth the sheep, and flieth” (John 10:12).
Holy Father, I pray you will answer this call.
The cry of Gaza’s children is a cry to Heaven, and the Church must be known, not for her silence, but for her Savior.
Let the cry of the Church be heard in heaven again. Let us not be found asleep in Gethsemane while children bleed in Gaza.
Our Lady, Queen of Peace, pray for us. St. Stephen, first martyr, intercede for Gaza.
St. Peter, pray for your successor, that he may be filled with holy boldness.
In Christ our Lord,
Bishop Joseph E. Strickland