Msgr.Bizzeti with “Priests Against Genocide”: “We cannot remain silent”

The former apostolic vicar of Anatolia is among the more than 500 signatories of the appeal denouncing the “humanitarian tragedy” of the Palestinian civilian population. On 22 September in Rome, public prayer for an end to “genocide” and for “unarmed and disarming” peace. From the international community and the West, “no real attempt to stop Israel”; behind this war, “a formidable business. Stop sending weapons”.

Milan (AsiaNews) - ‘A genocide is taking place in Gaza, as even several Israeli associations and historians recognise,’ which is why ‘we priests, nuns and bishops’ must not be afraid to ‘affirm the truth, the reality of the facts," says Msgr. Paolo Bizzeti, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia (Turkey) for almost 10 years. He is one of more than 500 signatories of an appeal signed by representatives of the clergy and Catholic religious institutions entitled ‘Priests Against Genocide’.

The prelate spoke withAsiaNews from Jordan, where he is visiting with a group of young Italian journalists: ‘We are faced with a country, Israel, that knows it can strike the weak with impunity. This is state terrorism, the methods are the same; nevertheless, at the international level, there are different standards and measures’ in judging actions.

At this very moment, the media are broadcasting images of ‘thousands of people walking along the beach in Gaza, fleeing to who knows where,’ says Monsignor Bizzeti, while ‘they are all being bombed indiscriminately’ by fighter jets and tanks of the army bearing the Star of David. 

‘I don't understand why distinctions have to be made by grasping at straws,’ he continues, ‘the facts are clear: genocide is taking place.’ For this reason, he warns, ‘it is important that there are priests, bishops, nuns and religious who, looking to the Gospel, say yes when it is yes and no when it is no. This is an awareness, even in the Catholic world, of the truth that today is perhaps the most important element to bear witness to.’

The 77-year-old Jesuit bishop (born in Florence on 22 September 1947) is one of the signatories of the document ‘Priests Against Genocide’, promoted with the aim of lifting the veil of silence and distinction in the face of the ‘humanitarian tragedy of the Palestinian civilian population’ in Gaza and the West Bank. 

The network, the statement continues, does not seek to ‘foment hatred or division’ but to give a “united” voice to personal initiatives that ‘express denunciation and call for justice, in fidelity to the Gospel and the Italian Constitution’.

The “Word of God”, together with the “Italian Constitution” and “international agreements”, are the principles that inspire the initiative, which does not want to be “against anyone, but in favour of every human life”. At the same time, the promoters reject the accusation of “anti-Semitism” used in recent years to target those who criticise Israel's various war fronts from Gaza to Lebanon, from Syria to Yemen, from the West Bank to Qatar and Iran.

Among the aims is an invitation to pray “for an unarmed and disarming peace” in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and in the more than fifty places where “we are experiencing a third world war in pieces”, to quote Pope Francis' words at the UN. Furthermore, it aims to “denounce the genocide taking place in Gaza” and call for “respect for international law” and “United Nations resolutions and the rulings of the International Criminal Court”, as well as to “promote a culture of reconciliation”.

On 22 September, a public prayer service is planned in Rome for an end to ‘the genocide’ in Gaza, the condemnation of ‘war crimes’, the defence of human life and the ‘disarmament of the State of Israel to prevent further deaths of innocent people’.

Taking up the themes present in the appeal, Monsignor Bizzeti does not spare criticism of the international community and Western chancelleries that endorse the war or, at the very least, do nothing to really stop it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he points out, is ‘backed’ by the United States and US President Donald Trump, but he can continue thanks also to ‘the use of Italian weapons’.

‘Behind the conflict,’ he continues, ‘there is a formidable business,’ so much so that the Tel Aviv stock exchange itself ‘has grown disproportionately,’ reaching a historic record high at the end of July and a 600% growth, accompanied by a consistent development of the start-up market. ‘This means,’ warns the prelate, ‘that behind the bombs there is a crazy business in which we are all involved.’

Hence the criticism of the West, which ‘promotes embargoes’ against certain countries, ‘reducing the population to poverty and consolidating fundamentalist powers,’ while nothing is done towards Israel. ‘We do not have the courage to say and ask for an end to the sending of weapons,’ he accuses.

On the other hand, the bishop praises the ‘Christian’ witness of the parish priest of Gaza, Fr Gabriel Romanelli, and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, who have chosen to remain and share the fate of the Christians of Gaza.

‘They had the strength and courage,’ he says, ‘to say that this is our land, that we are staying and we are with them. For this reason, we too [in the West] must not leave them alone, we must not abandon the Church of the Holy Land’ in Gaza, as in Jerusalem or Taybeh, where she herself is under attack. 

Monsignor Bizzeti, who has been visiting the Holy Land and its Christian communities for decades, also calls for ‘catechetical and prophetic action’ on the part of Christian leaders, who must condemn without reservation those leaders who, even using the name of God, have "created hell on earth. We must say that those who have hell in their hearts, those who create and praise hell, will also end up in hell."

Having lived in Turkey for years, the prelate dedicates a final reflection to the tensions between the two countries and between Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, exacerbated by the attack on Hamas leaders in Qatar. Despite the verbal clash, the prelate concludes, ‘I do not believe there is a risk of a bomb or a raid in Turkey as happened in Doha, for many reasons, not least because we are dealing with a country that operates knowing it can strike the weak with impunity.’