(ZENIT News – Pax Christi / Washington, 05.07.2024).- The Franciscan Bishop John Stowe took part in a peace demonstration outside the White House on Friday, alongside a number of Catholic religious – calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and urging US government to stop supplying Israel with weapons.
After some opening prayers, music and addresses from other campaigners Bishop Stowe who leads the diocese of Lexington Kentucky and is president of Pax Christi USA told the crowd: «We stand outside this symbol of power, this symbol of authority and, right now, a symbol of ongoing support for the destruction of human lives.»
Bishop Stowe said: «It’s a requirement of our faith that we are called to be peacemakers, not by some movement of the moment, but by the Lord Jesus Himself….. When food cannot get in, when medical help is limited or inaccessible to the people in Gaza, when innocents are being killed day in and day out, when people are trapped and being forced into even smaller confinement – we have to raise the voice, a voice that is not supportive of Hamas or terrorism, but a voice that calls for peace.»
The demonstrators expressed their solidarity with students who have been protesting on campuses across the USA, including several Catholic universities. Bishop Stowe stressed the need for all demonstrations to be peaceful.
«It’s easy to think that you have to fall into one side or the other, but we’re asking for peace for everybody,» he said. «We can’t be antisemitic, but we can’t support what Netanyahu, Israel and the Israeli government at this time is doing to Palestinians.»
He recalled that when Pope Francis visited the Holy Land in 2015 he prayed at the Western Wall in Jerusalem as well as at the Separation Wall dividing the occupied West Bank from Israel.
The protest ended with the Our Father.
Bishop Stowe was also one of more than 200 Catholic leaders who signed an open letter to President Biden expressing their «grief and dismay over the horrors that have occurred in Israel/Palestine», calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, the release of hostages and an end to the shipment of weapons to Israel.»
Other signatories included Cardinal Robert McElroy, Archbishop of San Diego, and Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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