A Catholic priest in southern Lebanon has died after being wounded during a bombing that struck a residential area, prompting Pope Leo XIV to express sorrow for the victims and renew his call for an end to the violence spreading across the Middle East.
Father Pierre al-Rahi, a Maronite parish priest serving the Christian village of Qlayaa, was killed on March 9 after an attack struck near his parish community. According to EWTN News, the priest rushed to assist a parishioner wounded in an earlier strike when another bombing occurred, leaving him gravely injured. He was taken to a nearby hospital but died shortly afterward.
The Holy See responded with a message of mourning and prayer for peace. “Pope Leo XIV expresses his profound sorrow for all the victims of the bombings in the Middle East these past few days, for the many innocent people, including numerous children, and for those who were helping them, such as Father Pierre El-Rahi, a Maronite priest killed this afternoon in Qlayaa,” the Vatican said in a statement, according to EWTN News.
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The Vatican message added that the Pope “is following the events with concern and prays for a swift end to all hostilities,” according to the same report.
Local clergy described the circumstances surrounding the priest’s death as particularly tragic. Father Toufic Bou Merhi, a Franciscan of the Custody of the Holy Land, explained that the bombing occurred after Father al-Rahi and several young parishioners rushed to help a wounded resident.
“There was an initial attack that hit a house near his parish, wounding one of the parishioners. Father Pierre rushed to his aid with dozens of young people. It was then that another bombing occurred at the same house. The priest was wounded,” Bou Merhi said, according to EWTN News.
Reports cited by LifeSiteNews say the strike occurred in a residential neighborhood in the predominantly Christian town. According to that report, the house was “hit twice in succession by artillery shelling from a hostile Merkava tank.” The second strike occurred after neighbors and rescuers arrived to help the injured.
LifeSiteNews reported that the attack has been described as a “double tap strike,” in which an initial strike wounds victims and a second follows after responders arrive. The priest and several others were wounded during the second shelling.
Father al-Rahi had reportedly chosen to remain in the area despite evacuation orders so that he could continue caring for his parishioners. According to LifeSiteNews, he had recently encouraged fellow residents to remain peaceful in the face of escalating tensions, telling them: “When we defend our land, we defend it peacefully, and we carry only the weapons of peace, goodness, love and prayer.”
His death has deeply shaken the Christian community in southern Lebanon, where families are already living under growing fear due to ongoing fighting.
“They are weeping over the tragedy and, at the same time, are very afraid,” Father Bou Merhi said, according to EWTN News. “Until now, people didn’t want to leave their homes in Christian villages, but in this situation, everything has changed.”
The wider humanitarian situation is worsening as fighting intensifies across the region. According to EWTN News, church institutions and religious communities have opened shelters to displaced civilians fleeing the violence. One Franciscan convent in the city of Tyre alone is reportedly housing around 200 displaced people, many of them Muslim families seeking refuge.
“We are taking them in. Where else can those in need find refuge in this situation?” Bou Merhi said, according to EWTN News.
The scale of displacement is significant. According to the same report, nearly 500,000 people have been displaced in Beirut alone, while almost 300,000 have fled southern Lebanon.
Local Catholic leaders say the Church remains committed to supporting those suffering despite limited resources. As Bou Merhi explained, families forced to leave their homes often have nowhere to go.
“People know what they are leaving behind: their homes, their belongings, their history. But they don’t know where to go,” he said, according to EWTN News.
Even amid the violence and loss, clergy are urging believers to remain rooted in faith.
“We say, and we repeat, that the last thing that must not die within us is hope in the Lord, who always gives us the strength to continue,” Bou Merhi said, according to EWTN News.
Pope Leo XIV has continued to call for peace throughout the escalating crisis, reminding the faithful that violence only deepens suffering.
As Bou Merhi echoed in his appeal for peace, “weapons do not bring peace; they bring massacres and hatred,” according to EWTN News. “All we ask is to live with a little dignity.”
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