On Wednesday, June 11, I spoke briefly to Archbishop Lori after a Mass celebrating the work of Catholic Relief Services and other aid organizations. Archbishop Lori gave a thoughtful homily critical of the administration’s international aid cuts and its mass deportation campaign. I asked Archbishop Lori to speak out on behalf of Palestinians in Gaza and presented him with the below regarding Catholic Social Teaching and Gaza.
CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING AND GAZA
One Body Catholic Worker House Baltimore
“How many today are ashamed to testify for the innocent!”
Saint Oscar Romero, The Violence of Love (p. 215)
Catholics in the Archdiocese of Baltimore must not be ashamed to testify for the innocent.
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“The Latin Patriarchate condemns in the strongest terms the targeting of civilians or any belligerent actions that fall short of ensuring that civilians remain outside the combat scene.”
Press Release – Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
“In the ensuing war against Hamas in Gaza, over 40,000 people, the majority of whom are civilians, are estimated to have been killed.”
(The Most Reverend) Timothy P. Broglio Archbishop for the Military Services, USA President, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
“[T]he U.S. intelligence community believes that up to 45 percent of the bombs Israel has dropped in Gaza were unguided[.]”
PBS New, Military experts discuss Israel’s use of unguided bombs and harms to civilians in Gaza (12-15-23)
The Archdiocese of Baltimore must condemn in the strongest terms the targeting of civilians or any belligerent actions that fall short of ensuring that civilians remain outside the combat scene
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“According to some experts,” Pope Francis writes, “what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide. It should be carefully investigated to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.”
Vatican News, “Pope: Investigate whether genocide is taking place in Gaza, respect human dignity”
“In this task of teaching peace, there is a particularly urgent need to lead individuals and peoples to respect the international order and to respect the commitments assumed by the Authorities which legitimately represent them. Peace and international law are closely linked to each another: law favours peace.”
Message of His Holiness Pope John Paul II for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace
The Archdiocese of Baltimore must support the investigation by international bodies, in particular the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, to determine whether Israel has committed and continues to commit Genocide in Gaza.
“‘Every act of war directed to the indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their inhabitants is a crime against God and man, which merits firm and unequivocal condemnation.’”
Catechism of the Catholic Church 2314 (quoting Gaudium et spes 80 § 3)
“436,000 of housing unit (92%) are destroyed (160,000) or damaged (276,000).”
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Reported impact snapshot|Gaza Strip (4 June 2025)
The Archdiocese of Baltimore must condemn the indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas in Gaza.
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The announced shipment of weapons to Israel includes “more than 35,000 2,000-pound bombs.” “Israel has been dropping 2,000 pound bombs in Gaza, a densely populated strip of 2 million people that is about the size of Las Vegas. U.S. military officers have said the bombs are unsuitable for urban combat.”
NY Times, Rubio Bypasses Congress to Send Israel $4 Billion in Arms (3-2-2025)
“Take urgent action: No new weapons to Israel!
Pax Christi USA urges our members and supporters to contact your senators as soon as possible to urge their support of the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRD) opposing over $20 billion in new US weapons transfers to Israel.”
Pax Christi USA https://paxchristiusa.org/2024/11/15/take-urgent-action-no-new-weapons-to-israel/
The Archdiocese of Baltimore must support an arms embargo on Israel
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“Actions deliberately contrary to the law of nations and to its universal principles are crimes, as are the orders that command such actions.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church 2313
The prohibition against the starvation of civilians is codified in international humanitarian law and has hardened into a rule of customary international law, i.e., the “law of nations.”
Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, Article 54)
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Article 8(2)(b)(xxv))
International Committee of the Red Cross, Customary IHL – Rule 53. Starvation as a Method of Warfare
“The entire 2.1 million population of Gaza is facing prolonged food shortages, with nearly half a million people in a catastrophic situation of hunger, acute malnutrition, starvation, illness and death. This is one of the world’s worst hunger crises, unfolding in real time.”
World Health Organization, “People in Gaza starving, sick and dying as aid blockade continues”
The Archdiocese of Baltimore must condemn Israel’s blockade of Gaza as contrary to the law of nations and a crime.