JERUSALEM (OSV News): “It was an image that will be very difficult to erase.” Mother María del Pilar Llerena Vargas, of the Charity of the Incarnate Word, said recalling the pain of watching the funeral of Christians killed in an October 19 blast at the St. Porphyrios Greek Orthodox church in Gaza.
Children laid their parents to rest and parents buried their little children after Israel bombed a Hamas target next to the Greek Orthodox church and caused the collapse of a two-story building in the church complex.
Mother del Pilar, who is from Peru, and serves the Catholic parish in Gaza, remarked, “Some of those children attended the different activities of our parish. They were well-known families and very close to us.”
One father was uncovered from the rubble with no signs of life, parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, said via WhatsApp on October 22, but protected by his body, his little child was found still alive.
Father Romanelli was stranded in Bethlehem when the war broke out October 7, and has been in constant contact with his parish since then [Sunday Examiner, October 22].
Some of those children attended the different activities of our parish. They were well-known families and very close to us
Mother del Pilar
Heartbreaking images circulated on social media of young married couples and children who died under the rubble. Caritas said they “were devastated to learn of the death of our colleague Viola, a 26-year-old, who was killed alongside her husband and their infant daughter in an airstrike attack on the St. Porphyrios [Greek] Orthodox Church in Gaza,” the October 20 statement from the organisation said. “May they rest in peace.”
The church provided refuge for around 500 people, including five dedicated members of Caritas staff, along with their families, Caritas wrote.
Mother del Pilar said the Catholic Holy Family Parish offered medical help to some of the people who received minor injuries in the blast and later received many of the Christians who had sought shelter at the St. Porphyrios Church. Some 700 people were now sheltering at the Holy Family Parish church complex, she said, including families, elderly and the 50 disabled children under the care of the Missionaries of Charity sisters.
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“We serve everyone,” she said. “We very charitably seek to ensure that everyone receives what they need in the best possible way.”
People at the parish are currently without electricity and drinking water, and are using the water from their well, but they don’t know how long it will last, she said. They have bought mineral water at triple the original price so people will have drinking water, she added.
[we} were devastated to learn of the death of our colleague Viola, a 26-year-old, who was killed alongside her husband and their infant daughter in an airstrike attack on the St. Porphyrios [Greek] Orthodox Church in Gaza Caritas
The parish celebrates Mass twice a day, Mother del Pilar said, and people are “constantly praying the rosary asking the Virgin and God for that peace we long for.” She called for believers everywhere to join in their prayers “So that God in his mercy grants it to us, since only He can do this great miracle.”
In an October 20 letter of appeal for donations to provide help to the Gaza parish, Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem CEO Sami El-Yousef said providing the care for the many people who reach the church seeking shelter since the beginning of the war two weeks ago has been “a great responsibility.”
El-Yousef said, “The human stories are incredibly tragic, and I am truly shaken as I personally know many of them from my frequent visits,” noting that some of the dead were participants in the the patriachate’s job creation programme. “We are simply overwhelmed, and the means available to us are being depleted quickly.”
On October 21, Hamas released two hostages through negotiations by the US and Qatar. two elderly women were also released on October 23.
El-Yousef noted that the patriarchate already had a list of post-war needs it would have to be prepared for including psychosocial programmes, fixing structural damage to any of their immediate institutions and homes of Christian parishioners, rental support as well as cash support and food and hygiene products. The war has also seriously affected people in the West Bank, where the closed borders mean many people are unable to go to their jobs in Jerusalem, he said.
Caritas Jerusalem said it has an emergency plan ready to assist the population as soon as the situation allows for it.
