In the last 18 months of his life, Pope Francis had a frequent evening ritual, calling the lone Catholic church in the Gaza Strip to see how people were coping. The pastor of the Holy Family Church, Gabriel Romanelli, said the pontiff called "every day". In his last public appearance, Francis called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. In his Easter message, Francis also expressed his "closeness to the sufferings of Christians in Palestine and Israel and to all the Israeli people and the