Pope Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church who passed away on Monday at the age of 88, was “beloved” in Palestine, says a Bethlehem-based pastor.
Munther Isaac, a noted Palestinian Christian pastor and theologian, expressed his condolences over the pontiff’s demise after a long spell of illness in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Isaac said Pope Francis “conveyed true compassion to Palestinians, most notably to those in Gaza during this genocide,” referring to the Pope’s strongly worded statements condemning Israel’s genocidal war over the past 18 months.
“His pastoral heart was evident in his insistence on calling the Christian community besieged in Gaza on a constant basis, even from his hospital,” wrote Isaac, who pastors the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem and the Lutheran Church in Beit Sahour.
Isaac recalled the Pope’s visit to Bethlehem some years ago and the “iconic image” of the pontiff praying at the Wall, which Isaac wrote about in his book ‘The Other Side of the Wall’.
“When Pope Francis stopped, touched the wall, and said a prayer, it was truly a monumental moment that made waves in world news. Pope Francis couldn’t help but notice the ugliness of this concrete structure at the heart of Bethlehem,” he wrote in the tweet.
“This wall should make us all uncomfortable. To this discomfort, the Pope couldn’t help but react and reach out. By responding in this manner, the Pope touched more than the wall. He touched the ugliness of the occupation and war. He touched the depth of our suffering.”
Isaac said the Pope “looked injustice in the eyes and challenged it,” referring to the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the atrocities against Palestinians, both Muslims and Christians.
“What did he say in his prayer? The truth is, I don’t want to know. Some words are better left unspoken. The image of him standing next to the wall and praying will forever be engraved in our memories. For me, this image went everywhere. On my office wall, Facebook page, desktop wallpaper,” Isaac wrote.
“For us as Palestinian Christians, this image was stored deep into our memory. And when this wall falls one day (not if, when), we might go back to this moment and this prayer as one of the key moments that led to its fall. At the end of the day, the Pope left, and the occupation and the wall remained.”
He said Palestinians were left with a “renewed sense of hope, knowing that they are left with a mandate to continue lamenting the current situation, to fight against injustice... and to pray.”
“The Pope left our world today, and the occupation and the wall remained. Even worse, he left our world while a genocide continues to unfold,” Isaac stated.
He quoted the deceased Pope as saying in November last year that he was “thinking above all of those who leave Gaza in the midst of the famine that has struck their Palestinian brothers and sisters, given the difficulty of getting food and aid into their territory.”
“Today I wonder: Will the millions who will mourn his death these coming days respect this wish of his? Will they care for Gazans and Palestinians the way he did?”
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https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/04/21/746571/pope-francis-true-compassion-people-gaza-genocide-pastor
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