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A Palestinian girl reacts as displaced people wait Aug. 4, 2025, to receive food from a charity kitchen in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, amid a hunger crisis.
OSV News photo/Hatem Khaled, Reuters
August 26, 2025
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The Canadian bishops are calling on the power of prayer to diffuse the complex situation that has engulfed the Holy Land for the past 22 months.
The Permanent Council of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops on Aug. 25 released a statement regarding the urgent humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by nearly two years of fighting following Hamas’ attack on Israel Oct. 7, 2023. In it, the bishops acknowledged the situation “is complex and every human solution has its limitations,” but went on to say “the power of prayer should never be underestimated.”
“Praying and fasting for peace in the Holy Land is both urgent and necessary at this time; it is something to which all the Catholic faithful in Canada should feel called to do, prompted by the loss of life on all sides and knowing that God desires peace,” the statement reads.
Thousands have died with thousands more injured — Muslims, Jews and Christians — since Hamas launched its cross-border attack that started the latest war between Israelis and Palestinians. The bishops noted the recent Israeli strike on Holy Family Church in Gaza that killed three and wounded many others, including a priest.
The bishops note Pope Leo XIV has said the “dire humanitarian situation in Gaza” where civilians are on the brink of starvation and the “barbarism of war” that is causing this “must be ended immediately.” The bishops also take note of the Pope’s appeal to the international community “to observe humanitarian law and to respect the obligation to protect civilians, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force and the forced displacement of the population” in Gaza and his call for a ceasefire and lasting peace.
And while concerns are expressed about the impact of the war on Gaza’s civilian population, the bishops say prayers for and the promotion of respect for the Jewish people, “particularly in the face of the rise in anti-Semitism,” must be on the table as well.
“May God, rich in mercy, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, patroness of the Holy Land and Queen of Peace, touch the hearts of all the inhabitants of the Holy Land — Jews, Muslims and Christians — so that they may open themselves to forgiveness and justice, and live peacefully together as brothers and sisters united by their common humanity,” the bishops said.
Read the full letter here.
A version of this story appeared in the August 31, 2025, issue of The Catholic Registerwith the headline "Bishops seek prayer to end Holy Land suffering".
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