Most Rev. William Lori, Archbishop of Baltimore
Office of the Archbishop
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
Re: Palestine in 2026
There is a moment from the life of Saint Oscar Romero, a transcendent and historically through-and-through moment, a beautiful and stark proclamation of the Incarnation that never ceases to inspire. Here it is, as recounted in an essay published several years ago in the St. Anthony Messenger:
On March 23, 1980, Archbishop Romero delivered a now-famous homily ordering soldiers to stop killing their own countrymen. “It is time to regain your conscience. In the name of God and the name of the suffering people, I implore you, I beg you, I order you, stop the repression!” The very next day, Romero was shot while celebrating Mass, as plotted by military and other local leaders.
(St. Anthony Messenger, “Oscar Romero: Modern-Day Martyr,” March 2018).
What kind of archbishop is this? What kind of Church is this? Saint Oscar Romero gave a direct order to soldiers to stop repressing a “suffering people,” an order that countermanded the orders of their political authorities. This is an archbishop who understood and fully embodied his role as teacher and the role of the Church, as set forth in the Code of Canon Law:
It belongs to the Church always and everywhere to announce moral principles, even about the social order, and to render judgment concerning any human affairs insofar as the fundamental rights of the human person or the salvation of souls requires it.
(Code of Canon Law, Book III, §2).
We have written to you about the Church’s “moral principles” as applied to Gaza and the West Bank. We repeat: “‘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).
It is beyond dispute that such destruction was visited on Gaza, that the destruction was achieved with billions of dollars worth of U.S. military aid, and that you and your fellow bishops in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) failed to render judgment on the policies of Israel and the United States that culminated, foreseeably and as seen, in a “crime against God and man[.]” Pleas for prayers and a ceasefire fall far short of the kind of fidelity to truth and Church demonstrated by Saint Romero. You should have ordered a suspension of arms shipments to Israel as they were being used to carry out this crime.
It is not too late to demonstrate fidelity. Israel’s policy of annexation of the West Bank is on full display and gaining steam, in direct opposition to the Church’s official recognition of the State of Palestine. The annexation is being facilitated by the uninterrupted flow of U.S. military aid to Israel and the profit-driven cooperation of corporations embedded in our economy. (See From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, 2 July 2025).
We implore you to render judgment on the violations of the fundamental rights of Palestinians as their land is being annexed. We beg you to call for a suspension of the arms shipments and corporate profiteering that are enabling annexation. At the very least, in your role as teacher, explain to us why the Church’s moral principles justify what has been, in effect, a posture of non-confrontation on the part of the bishops of the USCCB with the worldly powers at work in Palestine.
In Christ,
Jeff Ross and Suzanne Fontanesi
One Body Catholic Worker
West Baltimore