Pope Francis regularly called a church in Gaza to ask how residents there were doing during the Israel-Hamas war. He is remembered as a defender and consoling presence.

For months, the pontiff spoke by telephone almost every night with people sheltering in a Catholic church in the battered enclave, a ritual he tried to keep up in the hospital.

The link between political developments in the Middle East and the theological and cultural exchange between Judaism and Christianity has always remained tight. Since Oct. 7, old ghosts have appeared — and ugly insinuations against the late Pope.