Renata Steffens
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem greeting Alessandro Rossi de Gasperis with his dad Gabriele Rossi de Gasperis after Mass. Photo: John McElroy. In Ireland for the ceremony of Investiture of new Dames and Knights of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa OFM, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem met with a delegation from Aid to the Church in Need to discuss the situation in the Holy Land.
“The situation is so polarised that if you are close to the Palestinians, the Israelis feel betrayed, and vice-versa”, said the Patriarch. “When I speak of the suffering of Gaza, the Hebrew Catholics tell me about the areas which suffered in the October 7 attacks, and on the other side, the Palestinians think only of Gaza. Everybody wants to have a monopoly on the suffering.”
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem is divided into six vicariates. Jordan, Israel, Cyprus, Palestine – including West Bank and Gaza and two for Hebrew speaking Catholics. “We have Catholics of the Hebrew vicariate serving in the army in Gaza, and we have Catholics being bombed in Gaza. It is not easy,” said the cardinal.
For the cardinal, the solution is not a false neutrality. “I keep being told I need to be neutral. Come with me to Gaza, speak to my people who lost everything, and then tell me I have to be neutral.”
It is time to leave politics behind, said the Patriarch. “We have to meet and pray together. Now that the wounds are bleeding it is not the time to speak of politics,” he said. “We cannot become part of the political, or military clash or the confrontation. We have to be a constructive presence, but it is not simple to find the right way.”
The situation in Gaza is so unstable, it is useless to make long-term plans. It can take weeks to get aid into the region, so the Patriarchate is doing what they can to help that small Christian community.
“All the schools are destroyed or used as shelters,” said the cardinal, “and the families want schooling for their children, so we are trying to introduce caravans to serve as schools. We need to find teachers, however, and we have to work with what remains of the Palestinian authorities”.