During a telephone interview with the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Emmanuel Macron expressed, Saturday December 23, “his deep concern” in front of “the dramatic situation” from the Catholic parish in Gaza where two parishioners were killed “in an unworthy manner” on December 16 by an Israeli soldier.
During this call with Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzabella on the day before Christmas, the French president spoke of “his deep concern about the dramatic situation in the Latin parish of Gaza”Or “hundreds of civilians of all faiths (…) have been living under bombs and bullets for more than two months”, according to the Elysée press release published on Sunday. Emmanuel Macron expressed “his condolences for the death of two parishioners, killed in an undignified manner a few days ago”.
On December 16, a mother and her daughter, both Christians, were killed by an Israeli soldier in front of the only Catholic church in Gaza. Pope Francis denounced the death of these two women the next day.
Send “a message of peace and solidarity”
“While Christians all over the world come together during this time of year to celebrate peace and hope, Christians in the Holy Land are faced, like all civilian populations, with the return of violence and war in their most brutal aspects”we can read in the Elysée press release.
In the run-up to the Christmas mass, in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Emmanuel Macron asked the Latin Patriarch “to send a message of peace and solidarity to all Christians in the Holy Land, and to assure them that France stands by their side”.
The President of the Republic reaffirmed “France’s fidelity to its commitments, and in particular to the particular role of protection of a certain number of Christian communities, exercised through the French consulate general in Jerusalem”. “This responsibility, inherited from history, will be fully assumed in the face of the contemporary risks weighing on these communities”assured Mr. Macron who simultaneously sent a message of ” support “ and of “solidarity” to Christian communities, via the French consulate in Jerusalem.