Family of Shireen Abu Akleh meet Pope

Shireen Abu Akleh

Relatives of Catholic journalist Shireen Abu Akleh met Pope Francis at last week's General Audience, nearly six months after she was shot dead by Israeli forces while documenting an army raid in Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank for Al Jazeera. Shireen's brother Tony, his wife and two daughters held up a picture of Shireen and received a blessing from Pope Francis.

That evening the family attended a memorial Mass for Shireen, at the Basilica of Saint Mary in Cosmedin in Rome. The Mass was attended by Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem, and the members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See.

In his homily, Archimandrite Chihade Abboud, Procurator of the Greek-Melkite Catholic Church to the Holy See, said: "death does not put an end to human life," and it can also become a "shining witness in the Risen Christ."

He made several references to the professional vocation of the reporter, committed "until the last day to make known the bitter truth of the blind conflict whose end the whole world is hoping for at this moment."

Each profession has its own moral rule, and this also applies to journalists, reporters "who come close to painful realities, collect information and, by inescapable obligation, faithfully report the substantial truth of observed facts, in loyalty and fidelity to what happened, since out of intellectual honesty they have the task of being as objective as possible", while keeping an adequate distance from their own opinions. And so Shireen also bore witness to the truth, following her calling as a reporter.

The Archimandrite's homily concluded by entrusting Shireen to the mercy of the Lord, so that she may now "contemplate the Holy Face", and invoking the Holy Spirit to bring about harmony and peace in the Holy Land, in Palestine throughout the Middle East and throughout the world."

Source: Vatican News/Al Jazeera