Catholics around the world recently united in a day of prayer and fasting for peace and reconciliation in the Holy Land as war continues to devastate the region.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem, called on Catholics to devote time to prayer with Eucharistic adoration and recitation of the rosary “to deliver to God the Father our thirst for peace, justice, and reconciliation.”

“In this time of sorrow and dismay, we do not want to remain helpless. We cannot let death and its sting (1 Cor 15:55) be the only word we hear,” he said.

Pope Francis called for another day of prayer and fasting for peace in the Israel-Hamas war. It was “a day of penance to which I invite sisters and brothers of the various Christian denominations, those belonging to other religions, and all those who have at heart the cause of peace in the world, to join in as they see fit,” the Holy Father continued.

—CNA