The President of the Republic presented his condolences to the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem after two parishioners were killed on December 16 by an Israeli soldier.
During a telephone interview on Saturday with the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizabella, Emmanuel Macron expressed “his deep concern” about “the dramatic situation” of the Catholic parish in Gaza where two parishioners were killed “in an undignified manner” on December 16 by an Israeli soldier, the Elysée said on Sunday.
During a telephone interview on Saturday the day before Christmas with the man of faith, the French president spoke of “his deep concern about the dramatic situation in the Latin parish of Gaza”, where “people Hundreds of civilians of all faiths (…) have been living under bombs and bullets for more than two months,” according to the Elysée press release.
Emmanuel Macron expressed “his condolences for the death of two parishioners, killed in an undignified manner a few days ago”.
Message of peace and solidarity
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.
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 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 contemporary risks weighing on these communities,” assured Mr. Macron, who at the same time sent a message of “support” and “solidarity” to Christian communities, via the French consulate in Jerusalem.