(LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Britain’s senior Catholic cleric, denounced Israel’s announced plans to take over Gaza City and displace the entire population.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Gaza, about 75% of which is already under Israeli military control, would be completely taken over by Israel and that Gaza City and central areas of the territory would be cleared of Palestinians. Israel’s Security Cabinet had approved the plan on Friday.
Even the families of hostages held in Gaza have criticized the plans, requesting instead that Netanyahu and his government commit to a ceasefire agreement with Hamas that releases the approximately 50 hostages still held by the militant group, around 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.
“To increase the destruction of Gaza City and then the rest of its territory, in order to defeat a terrorist organisation and movement, is a development that is rightly being condemned around the world,” remarked Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and president of the bishops’ conference, on Saturday.
“There must be a better way,” he continued. “One that does not heap yet further suffering and misery on so many people who are not combatants but defenceless in face of the perpetrators of violence in their midst. Already too much innocent blood has been shed; too many lives destroyed; too much hunger and starvation. This war must be ended, not increased.”
He added that his heart goes out to Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem who is in charge of the local Church in Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus, and therefore oversees Holy Family Church, the only Catholic church in Gaza.
Since the outbreak of hostilities Pizzaballa has emerged as one of the leading campaigners for peace: not taking a political side but highlighting the crises faced on both sides of the conflict, with a particular emphasis on people served by the church.
After Israel’s strike on Holy Family Catholic Church there, Pizzaballa praised the work of those he encountered during his visit. “I tell you that what I saw is indescribable,” he said of Gaza.
“Total destruction, hunger, lack of health care, children without schools, hospitals destroyed. But in the midst of this hell, I saw the gentle men of today: people who risk their lives to help, children who say they were saved by Jesus despite their wounds, people who share the little they have.”
Christian Palestinians have suffered casualties and injuries amid Israel’s siege on Gaza not just as collateral damage but directly. Earlier this summer, Israel bombed Holy Family Church, killing at least three people and injuring 10. Israeli snipers were also accused of murdering two women who were part of a number of refugees sheltering in the building in late 2023.
While Nichols’ sentiments regarding the displacement and slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza are in alignment with Catholic Church teaching, other stances starkly contradict it. For example, Nichols has backed LGBT activists and supported the withdrawal of ventilator support for 23-month old boy Alfie Evans, who was also deprived of food for about 28 consecutive hours before his death.
Nichols has also undermined traditional Catholic teaching on marriage and homosexuality.
An Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) found that Nichols helped cover up sex abuse in England and Wales in an effort to protect the reputation of the Church, Pope Francis and Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor. “Nor did he demonstrate compassion towards victims in the recent cases which we examined,” the report stated.
