On Friday, Pope Leo XIV spoke to Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, about the situation in the Gaza Strip, where on Thursday the area’s only Catholic church was hit by a shell from an Israeli tank, killing three people.

Several others were injured, including Father Gabriel Romanelli, the pastor of the church.

In a statement issued by the Vatican, Leo asked about the condition of Romanelli and the other people injured in the “unjustifiable attack on the Parish of the Holy Family.”

“He [the pontiff] expressed his support and sympathy to the entire community gathered around the parish and to all those suffering from the violence and reiterated his intention to do everything possible to stop the senseless slaughter of innocents,” the Vatican said.

“Along with the patriarch, the pope extended his thoughts to all the innocent victims, those of Thursday’s attack and all those in this time of sorrow in the Holy Land and throughout the Middle East,” the statement continued.

The Vatican said Leo also contacted Father Carlos Ferrero, the Provincial of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, to which Romanelli belongs, “expressing his closeness to those in the community, faithful and religious, who were with him.”

“To all of them, Pope Leo assures his prayers and his unceasing commitment to peace, the only way that preserves humanity on all sides,” the Vatican said.