• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, walks through the ruins of buildings in Gaza City. He visited northern Gaza Strip May 16-19, 2024, during Pentecost. In a letter to the faithful Sept. 26, Cardinal Pizzaballa called for a day of prayer and penance on the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas and the start of the Israel-Hamas war. (OSV News photo/courtesy Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem)

Cardinal urges day of prayer, penance on anniversary of Oct. 7 attack, start of Israel-Hamas war

September 30, 2024
By OSV News
OSV News
Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Feature, News, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

JERUSALEM (OSV News) — Oct. 7 will mark a year since the brutal Hamas attack on Israeli communities and the no less brutal Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip that immediately followed.

The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem asked for a day of prayer, fasting and penance to mark “a date that has become symbolic of the drama we are experiencing.”

In a Sept. 26 letter to his diocese, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa said the region “plunged into a vortex of violence and hatred never seen or experienced before” as Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern communities, taking almost 250 people hostage Oct. 7, 2023. In the subsequent Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, at least 41,467 people, including nearly 16,500 children, have been killed to date, its health ministry said.

“The intensity and impact of the tragedies we have witnessed in the past twelve months have deeply lacerated our conscience and our sense of humanity,” the cardinal said.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, gestures during a press conference in the Old City of Jerusalem Sept. 21, 2023. In a letter to the faithful Sept. 26, 2024, Cardinal Pizzaballa called for a day of prayer and penance on the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas and the start of the Israel-Hamas war. (OSV News photo/Debbie Hill)

Violence in the region, the patriarch said, has caused not only “thousands of innocent victims” but also influenced social patterns.

“It has struck a profound blow to the common feeling of belonging to the Holy Land, to the consciousness of being part of a plan of Providence that wanted us here to build together His Kingdom of peace and justice, and not to make it instead a reservoir of hatred and contempt, of mutual rejection and annihilation,” he wrote.

He said the patriarchate repeatedly condemned “this senseless war” in the recent months “calling on everyone to stop this drift of violence, and to have the courage to find other ways of resolving the current conflict, which take into account the demands of justice, dignity and security for all.”

Explaining the need of the day of prayer, fasting and penance, the cardinal said that “we 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.”

He reminded that the month of October “is also the Marian month and on October 7 we celebrate the memory of Mary Queen of the Rosary.” He invited everyone to pray the rosary “or in whatever form he or she sees fit, personally but better again in community, find a moment to pause and pray.”

The day before he issued the letter he was a guest in Fulda where the German bishops’ conference had its plenary meeting.

The German Catholic news agency KNA reported that Cardinal Pizzaballa was skeptical about the negotiations for the release of hostages who were taken by Hamas during the attack on Israel. Ninety-seven people are still believed to be in the hands of Hamas. Three of seven American citizens among them are believed to be dead, NBC News reported Sept. 23.

“The signs of a successful conclusion to the negotiations are very weak. That is why we believe — and we hope we are wrong — that the end of the conflict is not yet in sight and that we will have to deal with this terrible situation for a long time to come,” Cardinal Pizzaballa told the German bishops.

A cease-fire deal most likely to bring the hostages out alive and end the soaring death toll among Palestinians has remained elusive.

Instead of ceasing, the war has intensified on the north front, since the escalation of Israeli strikes on Lebanon.

Since Sept. 23, Israeli strikes have killed more than 630 people in Lebanon, according to local health authorities, who said around a quarter were women and children. Several people in Israel have been wounded by shrapnel.

On Sept. 26, an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon hit a building housing Syrian workers and their families, killing 23 people, Lebanese officials said. It was one of the deadliest single strikes in an intensified air campaign against the militant Hezbollah group, The Associated Press reported.

Read More Crisis in Israel

IDF says Gaza Holy Family Parish hit was errant mortar round that veered off course

Peace by force is a ‘troubling’ idea, Iran cardinal says

U.S. to withdraw, again, from UNESCO over Palestine and UN development goals

Christ is not absent from Gaza, but crucified in the wounded, patriarchs say after visit

Syrian Christian leaders say Islamist government can’t protect them or Druze

Patriarch’s visit hailed ‘a miracle,’ while parishioners in Gaza feel horror, desperation

Copyright © 2024 OSV News

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

OSV News

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Prince of Peace merges with St. Francis de Sales in Harford County

  • NBC’s Tom Llamas says Catholic education deepened his faith, pushed him to always do his best

  • Construction underway on new north addition to St. Joseph’s Nursing Home 

  • Archbishop Wenski leads Knights on Bikes to pray rosary at Alligator Alcatraz

  • Radio Interview: Youth ministry changing with the times

| Latest Local News |

Archdiocese of Baltimore offers resources for parishes to assist migrants

Third annual gun buyback scheduled for Aug. 9

Driver arrested after crashing into entrance of Esperanza Center

Construction underway on new north addition to St. Joseph’s Nursing Home 

Prince of Peace merges with St. Francis de Sales in Harford County

| Latest World News |

Broglio: Church teaching obligates the faithful to support pastoral care of migrants

Ireland’s abortion rates rise 62 percent over 5 years; Catholic advocates call it ‘a tragedy’

Miami archbishop presses for pastoral visitation at Alligator Alcatraz

Body of Blessed Frassati, relic of Blessed Acutis will be in Rome for Jubilee

IDF says Gaza Holy Family Parish hit was errant mortar round that veered off course

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Broglio: Church teaching obligates the faithful to support pastoral care of migrants
  • Archdiocese of Baltimore offers resources for parishes to assist migrants
  • Third annual gun buyback scheduled for Aug. 9
  • Ireland’s abortion rates rise 62 percent over 5 years; Catholic advocates call it ‘a tragedy’
  • Miami archbishop presses for pastoral visitation at Alligator Alcatraz
  • Movie Review: ‘Smurfs’
  • Body of Blessed Frassati, relic of Blessed Acutis will be in Rome for Jubilee
  • Artificial Intelligence, wholeism and prayer
  • Driver arrested after crashing into entrance of Esperanza Center

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en