Madonna Amplifies Call for Pope Leo to Go to Gaza

Elevating calls that started to mount last month following an Israeli airstrike on the Holy Family Catholic Church, international pop star Madonna on Monday called on Pope Leo to travel to Gaza and "bring your light to the children before it's too late"—suggesting the leader of 1.4 billion Catholics could bring aid and force world leaders to respond to the humanitarian crisis that's resulted from Israel's starvation policy and bombardment.

"As a mother, I cannot bear to watch their suffering," said Madonna in a post on Instagram. "The children of the world belong to everyone. You are the only one of us who cannot be denied entry. We need the humanitarian gates to be fully open to save these innocent children."

"There is no more time," she added. "Please say you will go."

The singer-songwriter's plea came amid growing worldwide horror over the impact of Israel's near-total blockade on humanitarian aid and its move to take over Gaza City, with the entirely of the Gaza Strip likely following.

At least 227 Palestinians have died of starvation or malnutrition, including at least 103 children, as Israel has continued to block nearly all humanitarian aid and urge civilians to seek aid at hubs set up by the privatized Gaza Humanitarian Foundation—where nearly 1,400 Palestinians have been killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in recent months. Israeli soldiers have long said they've been directed to shoot at civilians, including those seeking aid.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said last month that famine is unfolding across Gaza, where the overall death toll since October 2023 is at least 61,899..

Palestinians journalists and civilians and global rights advocates have called for Western leaders to take action to stop Israel from bombarding the civilian population of Gaza since the IDF began its attacks 22 months ago. In recent weeks, the media and political establishment in the U.S. and other Western countries have taken more notice of the catastrophe facing Palestinians in the enclave.

After Israel's bombing of Gaza's only Catholic church last month, Al Jazeera journalist Mohammad Alsaafin responded to Pope Leo's statement on the attack by warning that "words, no matter how heartfelt, will not save a single starving child."

"The pope should go to Gaza, and bring aid in," said Alsaafin. "He should dare the Israelis to block him."

At Current Affairs, Alex Skopic quoted a biblical passage from the Book of James in which "the apostle takes a dim view of those who talk about compassion for starving people, but do nothing to actually help":

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Like his predecessor, Pope Francis, the pontiff has called for a cease-fire in Gaza and has maintained contact with the enclave's small Catholic community. But, wrote Skopik, he "has the opportunity to use his power to oppose a grave evil and potentially save thousands of lives."

"What good is it having a pope who can see children starving and do nothing but talk? Why would anyone listen to such a person?" Skopic wrote.

The positions and actions that institutions take on Israel's slaughter of civilians in Gaza will "make or break" them, Skopic added.

While taking concrete action to stop the forced starvation of Palestinians can't solve the Catholic Church's own "existential crisis, from its anti-LGBTQ prejudice to its long-standing complicity and cover-up of sexual abuse," he added, "it may show the world that the Catholic Church is capable of something other than corruption and malevolence."