Pater sancte, salva nos in nomine Dei

A plea to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV on behalf of Palestinians and Israelis

Dear Holy Father,

Forgive me for appealing to you for help when you have barely had time to settle in properly to your new responsibilities.

Our situation in Israel and Palestine is dire. We are desperate here for a decisive diplomatic intervention with teeth as the bloodbath intensifies hour by hour, while hardline politicians continue to plan for yet more bloodshed, more conquest, starvation, destruction, annihilation – not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank and the region at large.

Perhaps even now it is not too late for us to finally put an end to the long nightmare in our land – where so many well-intentioned Palestinians and Israelis have tried in vain for so long to find a path to a peaceful, just and mutually respectful shared future side by side.

This is why I thought of writing to you

In 2014, encouraged by my friends among the Sisters at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Mary of the Resurrection in Abu Ghosh near Jerusalem (the town where I lived at that time), we dispatched a copy of my 2011 book No More Enemies to Pope Francis in Rome. The sisters arranged to convey it through church channels; it was their idea. Francis was about to host Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas at a joint prayer session at the Vatican, and the Sisters were planning their own interfaith tree-planting and prayers in the Abbey garden, in solidarity. From my standpoint, we sent the book in a spirit of fellowship and in admiration of Francis’ advocacy for the oppressed and the exploited in our country and everywhere. I hoped he might find meaning in the central idea of the book: that the notion of “enemies” has long since become an obsolete social construct and indeed is serving only to destroy us, a thesis richly illustrated by the case of Palestine/Israel. I hoped he might be inspired to somehow help us.

I soon received a very kind note in reply on the official stationery of the Secretariat of State (First Section – General Affairs) at the Vatican, dated 7 April 2014, as follows:

Dear Ms. Reich,

The Holy Father wishes me to express his gratitude for your kind message and the book which you sent to him. He appreciates the sentiments which prompted this kind gesture.

His Holiness will remember you in his prayers and he invokes upon you abundant divine blessings of joy and peace.

Yours sincerely,
Monsignor Peter B. Wells
Assessor

Fast forward to May 2025

Pope Francis has left us; he will be greatly missed. He must have been very tired. May he rest in peace.

Meanwhile, here we are, Palestinians and Israelis, another decade older, and the nightmare has only intensified. Hope is hard to come by.

Then suddenly, Your Holiness, after the Conclave, as I read your bio and all the articles about your work thus far – suddenly I thought: Who knows? Maybe you will find a way where Francis could not. Maybe you can build on the efforts he made, which were considerable. As recently as February 2025, working from his wheelchair, he was hosting young people from Israel/Palestine for interfaith dialogue. He has left you to finish, if you can, what he began.

Could you be the harbinger of a breakthrough, Your Holiness? Maybe you have come into your new role at the precise moment when your deeply held faith in justice for ordinary people, your years of advocacy, your prayers, diplomacy, pastoral and administrative experience – all in combination, could serve to catalyze a way forward for us here. Perhaps you have a creative vision that could open a novel portal for deep change, beginning with a ceasefire now, today. Why should tens of thousands more children in Gaza starve to death? Why should the last of the Israeli hostages die? Destruction only begets more destruction; hatred only begets more hatred. Each needless death is a whole world destroyed. We – we in whose name these crimes are being committed – do not want to be complicit. Enough! Can you help us?

A young friend of mine in northern Gaza texted me last week: Life here is so bad. I wish I did not exist. His family is slowly starving to death, surrounded by toxic rubble. He envies the dead who can no longer suffer. His words haunt me day and night. And the clock is ticking.

Individually and collectively, we are so very long overdue for a comprehensive reboot in this land… so that all of the people living here can at last find equality, justice, dignity, tranquility and a good life together with a sane future for all our children and grandchildren. Holy Father, will you do what you can to lead the way?

In closing, please allow me to wish you strength, health, wisdom and joy in your new responsibilities.

Sincerely,

Deb Reich
Yahel, Southern Arava/Araba
Israel / Palestine