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This message comes from Carvana. Carvana makes financing your next car easy. Buy 100% online with customizable terms good for 30 days. Buy your car the convenient way with Carvana. Terms may apply. Today on State of the World, a church in Gaza mourns the Pope. You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. It's Tuesday, April 22nd. I'm Greg Dixon.
Catholics around the world are mourning the passing of Pope Francis. Today, we're going to hear how one parish in Gaza, which had a special relationship with the pontiff, is grieving. NPR's producer in Gaza, Anas Baba, visited the church. And Jane Araf brings us this story about the special phone call the church received every day. You assume...
This is Pope Francis in a WhatsApp call in January to the Holy Family Church in Gaza City. He's speaking to Father Yusuf Assad, a priest there. He asks what he ate. The call was during a lull in fighting between Israel and Hamas, and things were better. Three months later, the ceasefire is broken and famine is setting in. But on that day, the congregation had chicken wings.
Francis ends by saying they would talk tomorrow. 300 people have sheltered inside the last remaining Catholic church in Gaza since the war began. The Pope, head of 1.4 billion Catholics around the world, called every evening to see how they were.
The last time was Saturday, two days before he died, says George Anton, a Holy Family parish spokesman. Anton says Francis asked them to pray for him and to not be afraid that he was with them.
Outside the church, a group of children play soccer. Inside, Anton tells producer Anas Baba, there's a huge feeling of loss. Today, we feel like we're truly orphans, Anton tells him. He says no matter where he was or what he was doing, Francis would call every evening at 7.
He would ask whether we had food. Did we have clean water? Had anyone been injured? It was the questions a father would ask, Anton says. We lost all of this.
But that's not all they lost with the death of Pope Francis. The Gaza war has raged for a year and a half. At least 1,600 Israelis have been killed. The Israeli response has killed more than 51,000 Palestinians and destroyed the Palestinian enclave. The war rarely makes headlines anymore.
But Pope Francis never let it drop. The day before he died, he brought up Gaza in his Easter address at the Vatican, read by his deputy, called for a lasting ceasefire.
He was the only voice that did not go silent, says Anton in Gaza. There are fewer than 700 Christians left in Gaza, a region that was home to the beginning of Christianity. Anton says Pope Francis was concerned with all Palestinians. Producer Bob asks him if there's anything he'd like to say in English. Anton says Pope Francis believed Gazans deserve dignity and independence. I would call
The whole world and every individual on this earth to see Gaza by the eyes of Pope Francis. A pope who forged a personal and lasting connection with a tiny community in the midst of war. With producer Anas Baba in Gaza, I'm Jane Araf, NPR News, Amman. If you want to hear more on the life and legacy of Pope Francis, please listen to yesterday's episode of the podcast. ♪
That's the state of the world from NPR. Thanks for listening.
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