On Sunday evening, Oct. 8, President DeGioia sent a message to the Georgetown University community via email. 

The letter opened with Pope Francis’s heartfelt message to the world: “Let it be understood that terrorism and war do not lead to any resolutions, but only to the death and the suffering of so many innocent people.” 

But the letter cut off the last part of the Pope’s message: “Let us pray for peace in Israel and Palestine.” As a result, I’m left wondering why this essential admonition from the Pope was removed by DeGioia.

The omission is important, of course, for those of us who are Palestinian, for those who’ve lived under Israeli occupation, for those who’ve attended Bethlehem University — Palestine’s Catholic university, for those who have family living in refugee camps. This closing line is important, as well, for the purpose of context as Pope Francis intended it. 

We are all objects of Christ’s love, not only those who suffered in this past week, but also those who suffer indiscriminate violence every day, who live with a boot at their neck every day, who are robbed of hope each and every day. Pope Francis’s words dignify, love and understand us. 

I call on President DeGioia to remind our community, our WHOLE community, that we all must pray for peace in Israel and Palestine.

Sam Halabi is a professor in the School of Health.