Singer calls on the pontiff to enter besieged Gaza, saying only he can reach starving children

Madonna has issued a direct plea to Pope Leo, urging him to travel to Gaza and bring what she called “light to the children” as the humanitarian crisis in the territory worsens.

“Most Holy Father, please go to Gaza and bring your light to the children before it’s too late,” the American singer wrote in an Instagram post on Monday evening. Speaking as a mother, she said she could not bear to witness their suffering. “The children of the world belong to everyone,” she added. “You are the only one of us who cannot be denied entry.”

Her comments come amid mounting international appeals for the pontiff to take a more direct role in addressing the humanitarian emergency. Last month, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the highest-ranking Catholic official in Jerusalem, visited Gaza alongside Theophilos III, the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem. The trip took place days after an Israeli airstrike on the Holy Family Church in Gaza City — the enclave’s last Catholic church — killed three Palestinians and wounded several others.

Pope Leo’s initial response to that attack, which acknowledged casualties without naming Israel, drew criticism and comparisons to his predecessor Pope Francis, who was outspoken in condemning Israeli military actions. The pontiff later attributed the strike to the Israeli army.

In her message, Madonna called for “humanitarian gates to be fully opened” to save Gaza’s children. Israel has imposed a near-total blockade on food and humanitarian aid since March, leading to widespread malnutrition. Since late May, the controversial US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has overseen aid distribution, but has reportedly delivered only a fraction of what is needed.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, at least 1,800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid, most near GHF sites, which are heavily militarised. Starvation has claimed the lives of 222 Palestinians since the start of the war, including 101 children.

Madonna’s statement stopped short of directly criticising Israel’s actions. “I am not pointing fingers, placing blame or taking sides,” she wrote. “Everyone is suffering — including the mothers of the hostages. I pray that they are released as well.” She argued that politics could not bring about meaningful change, insisting that “only consciousness can” — which is why she had reached out to “a Man of God”.

Raised Roman Catholic, Madonna has had a long and often turbulent history with the Church. Her use of Catholic imagery — from burning crosses to pole-dancing nuns — has drawn condemnation from several popes and senior clergy. In 1990, Pope John Paul II condemned her Blond Ambition tour as “one of the most satanic shows in the history of humanity.” Sixteen years later, her Confessions tour was denounced by Cardinal Ersilio Tonini, with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI, as “a blasphemous challenge to the faith and a profanation of the cross.”

More recently, she courted controversy by posting an AI-generated image of Pope Francis with his arm around her waist. In June, a New York Times investigation revealed that Madonna and Pope Leo share a common ancestor from six generations ago, making them ninth cousins.

Madonna’s latest appeal adds to growing pressure on the Vatican to take visible action in Gaza. Many campaigners hope that a visit by the pontiff could break through the siege and bring global attention to what aid agencies describe as a worsening humanitarian catastrophe.