Catholics are pushing back after Babylon Bee Managing Editor Joel Berry accused Gaza’s Christian community of aiding Hamas — just days after three Catholics were killed in a July 17 Israeli strike on Holy Family Church, the only Catholic parish in Gaza.
“This won’t be easy for people to hear,” Berry wrote on X July 19, “but there are only about 200 professed Catholics still living in Gaza and they all support Hamas.”
“True Christian faith still exists in Gaza, but it’s all underground,” Berry added. “Anyone allowed by Hamas to practice openly is allowed to do so only because they aid and support the terror regime.”
Berry’s shocking anti-Catholic comments went viral, with numerous Catholic clergymen and laypeople condemning the remarks as slanderous and inflammatory.
“This is one of the most reprehensible takes on the attack of a Catholic Church and the killing and wounding of innocent people in a sacred place from one who professes to be a Christian,” wrote New Jersey Catholic priest Father Jim Chern.
Father Matthew P. Schneider, a Connecticut priest and professor at Holy Apostles College and Seminary, called Berry’s post “an insane take. I hope you realize that.”
Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry, a Catholic and former fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, argued that Middle East Christians “bother American evangelicals.”
“[T]hey’re a reminder that the Christians with a direct historical link to Jesus and the Apostles are decidedly non-Protestant in their theology & practices,” Gobry wrote.
Catholic commentator Taylor Marshall is one of many Catholics who called for a boycott against Berry’s satirical website. “I just blocked @TheBabylonBee and @JoelWBerry. You should too,” Marshall wrote.
Orthodox priest and author Rev. Ben Johnson accused Berry of harboring deep anti-Catholic and anti-Orthodox prejudice.
“Joel Berry’s ‘Christian deaths don’t matter if they aren’t evangelicals’ is the anti-Catholic, anti-Orthodox, prideful faith of the modern day Protestant Pharisee,” he wrote. “Closing your heart to the suffering, death, and destruction of the innocent is the faith of the Antichrist.”
Throughout the war, Holy Family Church has served as a sanctuary, sheltering hundreds of civilians — Catholic, Protestant, and Muslim alike — while ministering the Sacraments. Even after the strike, the parish has offered Mass for its parishioners.
Despite public outrage, Berry maintained his stance, refusing to retract or apologize.
“I love my Catholic brothers and sisters, I reject all the slander and twisting of what I say, and I’ll never stop calling out corruption and compromise in the church,” Berry wrote. “That’s something godly Protestants and Catholics should unite around. I apologize for nothing. Go pound sand.”
Catholic apologist Patrick Madrid responded: “Your comments were ignorant and bigoted, and now you’re getting the rebukes you deserve.”
One viral post showed a photo of a young altar boy at Gaza’s Holy Family Catholic Church with the caption: “This is a Hamas supporter according to Joel Berry.”
Others pointed to what they described as a long-standing pattern of anti-Catholic mockery from the Babylon Bee.
“Babylon Bee BETTER get a huge drop in subscriptions after this,” one user wrote. She shared screenshots of past headlines mocking Catholic teachings like the perpetual virginity of Mary and the communion of saints, writing, “The signs they hate Catholics were always there and we were told we ‘couldn’t take a joke’ if we dared to call out their gross blasphemy, now they’re justifying killing us”.
Responding to Berry’s claim that the Gaza Catholics lack true faith, one Catholic noted that both Pope Leo and the late Pope Francis have maintained close contact with the Holy Family Church. Pope Francis called the parish almost daily, while Pope Leo said he was “particularly close” to parishioners in his July 20 Angelus address.
Meanwhile, Catholic human rights activist Jason Jones delivered one of the sharpest rebukes, defending Gaza’s Catholic faith as that of the “descendants of the world’s oldest Christian community.”
“Joel Berry says the Apostolic Christians in Gaza — descendants of the world’s oldest Christian community — are not Christian,” Jones said. “The truth is: Christian Zionists, who descend from a long line of European heretics, are not Christian.”
“If you deny that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all the promises made to Abraham, then you have denied the Gospel itself. To call yourself Christian while rejecting Christ as the telos of Israel’s covenant is like claiming to be a disciple while scorning the Master.”
Beyond the backlash against Berry, the Israeli tank strike itself stirred a wave of Catholic outrage around the world.
Sohrab Ahmari, Catholic author and US editor of UnHerd, commented on the international reaction.
“Never seen such widespread Catholic anger. Global,” he wrote July 17. “A watershed.”
