“We are orphans now” Gaza Catholics says, “We are orphans now.”

“As-Salam Alaikum” or “Peace be upon you”, Pope Francis ventured in Arabic while talking to the parish sons in Gaza earlier this year.

A short video clip released by the Vatican upon his death showed his intimate relationship with the small Christian community of the Palestinian territories, many of whom are known as the name.

Within 18 months of war, they took their night contact to verify their well -being.

“What did you eat today?” The Pope asks the local priests in the video, after they turned into Italian. “The remainder of the chicken yesterday,” Father Gabriel Romanti answers.

Only a few hundred Christians in Gaza remain among the population of the Muslim region, almost more than two million people. Many lived, as well as worship, in the Holy Catholic Church in Gaza City.

With the death of the Pope, they feel that they lost a dear friend.

“He used to contact us daily during the war, in black days under bombing – on the days when people were killed and wounded,” said Father Romanlli.

“Sometimes, we did not have a phone call for hours and the Pope will try with all his responsibilities to reach us.”

George Anton, a local Catholic, is the emergency coordinator at the Church of the Holy Family. He told me that the shock left him almost powerlessly about the first time that he spoke to the Pope, but he ended up talking to him regularly in video calls.

He explained to the ink how he lost his home and relatives.

Anton said: “It was all the time to make me fully understood and he was completely encouraging us to be strong,” Anton said. And he asked, “What can I do for you? What can I do for you?

Christians in Ghazan say they will now miss a great source of comfort and support.

Anton said: “Our poetry”, my God, we are like orphans now. ”

“There will be no calls from the Pope, and we will not hear this voice. We will not hear the spirit of humor. You know that Pope Francis has a special relationship with Gaza, and with each of us.”

Pope Francis visited the Holy Land in 2014. A distinctive picture of his trip came in an unprecedented stop in Bethlehem when he prayed for peace from the current wall, which is part of the West Bank barrier in Israel.

On Sunday, in his message, Easter, his last public appearance, was calling again to peace and a ceasefire in Gaza.

He said with his words by one of the assistants, he said: “The terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and create a dramatic and unfortunate humanitarian situation.”

“War is not just weapons. War is sometimes words.” He said that the Pope had moral clarity.

“Pope Francis was recently, especially in the past year, very frank about the status of the Holy Land, and called for the liberation of the hostages, but also condemning the dramatic situation, the ongoing war in Gaza and the situation for the Palestinians.”

The Israeli media noted that although President Isaac Herzog expressed his condolences to the Catholic world, there were no similar comments from the Prime Minister or the Foreign Minister as expected – widely attributed to the strong positions of the Pope against the Gaza war.

Some of his most clear criticism came to Israel late last year when excerpts were published from a coming book.

“According to some experts, what happens in Gaza has the characteristics of genocide,” Pope Francis wrote.

“It should be carefully investigated to determine whether it is suitable for the artistic definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.”

Israel refuses to firmly firm the allegations of genocide in Gaza and says its goal of war is to defeat Hamas.

With the start of the tour in Rome this week to the report of the successor of Pope Francis, the Palestinians and the Israelis will closely monitor to find out what the next Pope says about their bound conflict.

Christians in Gaza say they hope to pay those chosen for peace.