Cardinal Pizzaballa asks to look at the face of God and the other to build peaceThe Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal PizzaballaIn a conference with journalists this weekend, he insisted that "it is important to think about returning to the Holy Land", especially now that the confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon has ended.
"I encourage you to have the courage to come, the pilgrimages are safe. Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jerusalem... are safe cities, it is important to come and there is hope for the future". Christians have always been there, there is no reason for us to leave. Besides, the Holy Land is the place of the testimony of the Revelation", he added.
"Keeping the faith and memory of the historical Christ."
At the meeting, which took place from Germany and was presented by Regina Lynchexecutive president ACN InternationalThe meeting was moderated by Maria Lozano, Director of Communications, and Cardinal Pizzaballa argued the call to return to the Holy Land.
"Christians have always been there, there is no reason for us to leave. Moreover, the Holy Land is the place of the testimony of Revelation. Keeping the faith and the memory of the historical Jesus Christ is essential. Christian faith is not narrative, it is a historical faith: we believe that God became incarnate and lived there, and the presence of Christians maintains the historical presence of Jesus."
"The devil wants to drive us out, send us away."
"The devil wants to drive us out, to send us away from the Holy Land. It is not only important that we stay, but that we bring Christians on pilgrimage. It is time to return to the Holy Land. Pilgrims have not been able to come during the war, and this has been a wound for us, because pilgrims are part of our identity as a Church," noted the Cardinal Pizzaballa.
Emotional violence: a before and after October 7
This war has something different from previous ones, in the judgment of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. "There is a before Oct. 7, 2023, and a then. It is the type of violence and the impact of this violence on the population. For Israelis, what happened on October 7 is a trauma that has impacted them, very deeply, and that there are still hostages is something that stirs their emotions."
"But also for the Palestinians," he stressed. "What happened, especially in Gaza, has very much affected from an emotional point of view the lives of the Palestinians. For Israelis it was like a small Shoah (holocaust) that happened on Israeli soil. And what happened in Gaza is like a new attempt to take them out of the Holy Land."
Gaza: no work, no education
"It is a very dramatic situation for both populations. And the situation is very dramatic in Gaza from an economic point of view, as everyone knows. Nobody works. Almost two million people (90 percent of the population) are displaced. The houses are destroyed, they are living in tents".
"In Gaza we have a little more than 600 people, they are all in the Holy Family Parish, the conditions are very miserable, In Gaza emergency aid is needed, medicines, food, and another aspect that is not considered emergency is education: it is the second year that children in Gaza do not go to school, and most Palestinians have been left without work, before the war they were going to Israel, now there are no pilgrimages, because the pilgrimages to Israel have been canceled because of the war."
Hope and the Pope's daily call
"As a Pastor, you perceive the level of hatred that you feel everywhere, the speeches of hatred, the language of contempt, of rejection of the other," but "we bring an argument of hope, of hope for the future," the Cardinal added.
Pope Francis calls the Parish every day in the afternoon, sometimes half a minute, sometimes more, the Patriarch revealed, and "he has become the grandfather of the children, the grandfather who calls them. He is a great support." "We are not a Church that is dying, we are a living Church, even if we are few."
Signs of a new situation
Now, "once the war in Lebanon is over, and we hope that the situation in Gaza will also end soon, there are signs that we will reach a new situation," said Pizzaballa. However, "we must not confuse hope with a political solution," which at the moment is not apparent. "My impression is that it is possible that in the coming weeks or months a form of agreement will be reached, but the end of the war is not the end of the conflict," among other reasons because of the hatred, which "is still there" in the population.
But "perhaps because we are not politically relevant, we have the freedom to connect with everyone". "Thank you for your prayers," he concluded, "because prayer will not change the situation, but it will change our hearts, and when we have changed, we will become the protagonists of change in the future."
The Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa is the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem since 2020, but he has been in the Holy Land since 1990, where he has been Custodian of the Holy Land (of the Order of Friars Minor, the Franciscans) for twelve years, until 2016. At the beginning of his speech, he gave thanks for all that ACN does in the Holy Land, for the Latin Patriarchate and the other churches, and for Christians around the world.
