The Bishop of Antwerp Johan Bonny (70) is to take part in a fast at the city’s Saint Charles Borromeo Church to protest against the violence in Gaza. Bishop Bonny and the other participants will not eat for 30 hours and devote much of their time to praying for the victims on the conflict. Anyone that wishes to can join the fast and spend the night at the church.
The fast will get under way on Friday afternoon. From then Bishop Bonny will not eat for 30 hours. The news that the Bishop of Antwerp is going to fast for Gaza first appeared on the Catholic news site Otheo and has since been confirmed by the Antwerp Diocese. Bishop Bonny's fast is part of a wider action taking place at the church.
"For 30 hours we will stand still and think about the poignant situation is Gaza, where the civilian population is being killed and displaced on a large scale”, the organisers of the fast write. The organisers also deplore the “famine, systematic destruction of hospitals and the genocidal actions of Israel”.
12,000 children dead
The fast is being organised by the Antwerp Diocese and the Catholic organisations Attent, Sant'Egidio, Broederlijk Delen and Pax Christi Flanders.
Those taking part will pray and read out the names of the 12,000 Palestinian children that have died in the conflict. Those taking part in the fast can send Friday night at the church. However, Bishop Bonny will be sleeping elsewhere and will return to the church on Saturday morning.
Christians in the Middle East
Before he became Bishop of Antwerp Johan Bonny in 2009 Johan Bonny was responsible for upholding the Vatican’s contacts with Christians in the Middle East. Previously, Bishop Bonny has spoken out several times against the violence in Gaza.