by Monsignor Bruno Varriano, auxiliary bishop of Cyprus
For two days I have only thought of our patriarch Cardinal Pizzaballa. When the evacuation order was issued, he could have gone away from the hell created by Israel in which he enters every time he can. He could have said: “Well, I tried but I can’t do anything anymore.” Instead he chose Another way: that of resistance and courage. He raised his voice, did not stop denouncing, he looked for a megaphone to shout to the world everywhere: move! Do something! Fight like a lion, not for himself, but in the name of God, in order to save a life from the jaws of death.
When I listen to it, I perceive his pain, but I also see an unrivaled courage. It is as if the fear of death does not touch him at all. Is it possible that you are not afraid? And Father Romanelli, the priests and the nuns who have decided to stay in Gaza to serve the local community, don’t hear terror? Don’t they want to escape? Obviously not. In them, the sense of justice is stronger than any fear, faster than every threat. They are beings that rise above human fragility, very above the mediocre that close their eyes in front of the executioner, the one who orders massacres and then goes boldly to banquets and gala parties.
Today, while Israel is unleashing something that is worse than hell, Cardinal Pizzaballa has pronounced words that enclose the ìesenza of his message: “We must do everything possible to keep humanity alive”.
I don’t know if he will succeed, I don’t know if we will succeed, but I know with certainty that a man of this nobility and courage must not be left alone.
For this father Simon Pietro Herro, in spreading the text of Monsignor Varriano, asked to pray «For our patriarch, Cardinal Pizzaballa, and for all those who have chosen to remain in the heart of fire to testify the truth and serve humanity. That our voices unite with his, and our hearts come on with his courage, to become a single people against injustice».
I don’t know if he will do it, if we will do it, but certainly a man of this thickness should not be left alone.
Photo Holy Cross Nicosia
