The Jerusalem Patriarchate, which is led by Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and oversees the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, published a statement on Dec. 16, in which it said that the IDF had “murdered two Christian women inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza, where the majority of Christian families has taken refuge since the start of the war.”
The patriarchate said that “no warning was given, no notification was provided,” and that the two women were “shot in cold blood inside the premises of the parish, where there are no belligerents.”
Pope Francis joined the patriarchate in condemning the IDF for the women’s deaths, going so far as to call it an act of “terrorism” during his Dec. 17 Angelus address.
Schutz criticized the patriarchate for what he said were careless accusations.
“I don’t know why they took the liberty of using this language. It should be upon them to give this answer,” he said, adding, “I also didn’t hear any clarification, not from them, not from any other element. So, what I can only express is my anger, my dismay, my disappointment for this easygoing, superficial use of words when it comes to this incident.”
Schutz also took issue with Pope Francis’ use of the word “terrorism” to describe Israel’s actions.