(ANSA) – ROME, AUG 22 – Catholics the world over on Friday heeded Pope Leo XIV’s call for a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Gaza, Ukraine and other areas of conflict around the globe.
Churches in Italy and across five continents, organizations and associations such as the Community of Sant’Egidio, the ACLI, Pax Christi, Communion and Liberation, Catholic Action, but above all dioceses in conflict zones such as the Holy Family in Gaza, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and the Custody of the Holy Land: the Catholic world unanimously joined Pope Leo’s call for a day of fasting and prayer for peace in the Holy Land and Ukraine and in all other places of conflict.
“Today we celebrate the memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary Queen, also invoked as the Queen of Peace,” Leo tweeted on X.
“Let us live this day in fasting and prayer, beseeching the Lord for the gift of peace. Let us pray that hearts may be freed from hatred, that the logic of division and retaliation may be abandoned, and that a vision of unity inspired by the common good may prevail.” In another message to the Protestant world gathered for an important ecumenical meeting in Stockholm, Leo extended his hand: “What unites us is greater than what divides us,” and reiterates: “Our world bears the deep scars of conflict, inequality, environmental degradation, and a growing sense of spiritual disconnection.” Amid these challenges, “Christians are called to become architects of reconciliation, to face division with courage, to bring healing where there have been wounds.” But Leo XIV’s voice was not the only one calling for an end to hostilities.
“The path to peace is encountering many obstacles,” Father Ibrahim Faltas, Vicar of the Custody of the Holy Land, told ANSA.
“We ask God to enlighten the hearts and minds of those who foster violence, to help us overcome the scandal of being unable to help those dying of hunger while conflicts are fueled by further supplying instruments of death. We ask that the good of justice prevail, which does not permit illegal invasions, which does not approve ‘heroic’ plans of death and destruction.” It was a clear reference to the invasion of the Gaza Strip, where bombings continue, including near the Church of the Holy Family.
“The situation is critical after a new phase of the war began,” said Father Gabriel Romanelli, the parish priest injured in an attack last July.
Some went further, like Pax Christi, who said we must “fast not only from food, but also from financial gain and ties to those with interests in weapons.” “How many bloody businesses,” added Father Renato Sacco, also in Famiglia Cristiana, “how many banks are involved in arms exports.” “We join the Pope’s pressing appeal,” commented Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) and humanitarian mediator for the Ukrainian children kidnapped by the Russians.
“The persistence of situations of violence, hatred, and death compels us to intensify our prayers for an unarmed and disarming peace, imploring the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace, to remove the horror of war from every people and to enlighten the minds of those with political and diplomatic responsibilities.” (ANSA).
Read article…

Last modified: August 23, 2025