The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, has hailed Pope Francis’s support for Gazans and engagement with the small Catholic community in the battered Palestinian territory, AFP reports.
The Catholic church’s highest authority in the region, who is considered a potential successor to the late pontiff, Pizzaballa told journalists in Jerusalem that “Gaza represents, a little bit, all what was the heart of his pontificate.”
“He was very close to the community of Gaza, the parish of Gaza, he kept calling them many times — for a certain period, also every day, every evening at 7pm,” said the patriarch.
He added that by doing so, the pope “became for the community something stable, and also comforting for them, and he knew this”.
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