In response to the Pope’s appeal, Catholics worldwide mark a day of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving for peace in the Middle East.
By Joseph Tulloch
VATICAN CITY (7 October) — Today, Monday 7th October, marks exactly one year since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
Catholics the world over have been marking the anniversary with a day of prayer and fasting for peace, in response to the Pope’s appeal last Wednesday.
The Pope was echoing a similar appeal launched by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, a few days earlier.
A ‘vision of peace’
This appeal by the Patriarch and the Pope has been picked up by numerous Catholic groups the world over, from the Focolare Movement and the Order of Friars Minor to the Commission of Bishops’ Conferences in the European Union.
Fr. Piotr Zelazko, who serves Israel’s Hebrew-speaking Catholic community, told Vatican News that his parishioners were also taking the opportunity to pray and fast for peace.
Despite the immense pain caused by the war, Fr Zelasko said, “the Hebrew-speaking Catholics cling to a vision of peace and healing, grounded in their deep faith and the promises of God.”
Conversion, penance, and forgiveness
In his original statement calling for the day of prayer, Patriarch Pizzaballa noted that Christians “have a duty to commit ourselves to peace” firstly by “preserving our hearts from all feelings of hatred” and “cherishing the desire for good for everyone.”
The Patriarch urged his readers to “support those in need, help those who are personally invested to alleviate the suffering of those affected by this war, and promote every action of peace, reconciliation and encounter.”
He stressed, however, that “we also need to pray, to bring our pain and our desire for peace to God. We need to convert, to do penance, and to implore forgiveness.”
Almsgiving
The day is also being marked here in Rome, where the second session of the Synod on Synodality is in full swing.
The papal almoner, Cardinal Krajewski, said he would be collecting donations at the Synod for the people of Gaza, in particular for the Catholic parish there.
“The Holy Father has asked us to be particularly united in prayer today,” he said, “praying, fasting and imploring peace for the whole world.”
“Prayer and fasting, however, cannot be done without almsgiving, which requires sacrifice: it has to hurt us, as we give up what belongs to us in order to give to our neighbour in need.”
