Singer Madonna has appealed directly to Pope Leo to travel to Gaza and advocate for children suffering amid the ongoing conflict.
In a public message on Instagram, she wrote: “Most Holy Father, please go to Gaza and bring your light to the children before it’s too late. As a mother, I cannot bear to watch their suffering… We need the humanitarian gates to be fully opened to save these innocent children. There is no more time. Please say you will go.”
Posting on her son Rocco’s birthday, Madonna said her plea was the “best gift” she could give him, asking others to do what they can to help.
“Politics cannot effect change. Only consciousness can. Therefore, I am reaching out to a man of God,” she wrote, adding: “I am not pointing fingers, placing blame, or taking sides. Everyone is suffering—including the mothers of the hostages. I pray that they are released as well.”
Pope Leo, who became the first American-born pontiff in May, addressed the crisis in a recent Mass: “We are closer than ever to young people who suffer the most serious evils which are caused by other human beings. We are with the young people of Gaza.”