It's extremely serious says the Palestinian city's only Catholic priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli (pictured).

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reports agree.

"Our people are constantly suffering. Every time both sides talk about a truce, the intensity of military operations increases" reports an ACN partner (who has aked for anonymity).

Refuge under fire

For the past fortnight Gaza's Holy Family parish has suffered intense military clashes and shelling.

The displaced Christian community has been living within the parish compound since the conflict began.

The 512-strong mainly Catholic and Orthodox group has "been living a Calvary without respite for months" Romanelli says.

"The other day my vicar, who is inside Gaza, told me "You can't imagine the pain we are feeling and the desperation of the people".

Yet they "still have faith and hope in the essential - in Jesus Christ".

Praying and caring for one another are two constants in the besieged Christian community.

There's daily Mass, catechesis sessions and the rosary. There are activities for children and meetings for trauma healing through prayer.

Basics lacking

Clean water and food are at a premium, ACN's partner says.

Dirty water is used for toilets and sanitary units, and water is being purified using traditional methods.

Food is "very, very limited" and the problem has nothing to do with the availability of cash.

"It is simply that food is scarce, and it is difficult to find anywhere to buy it."

Internationally-provided humanitarian aid didn't arrive in the parish.

"However, some faithful managed to find flour and the bakery started producing bread again ... a great blessing for our displaced people" Romanelli says.

Many charities are trying to help.

The Latin Patriarchate is able to provide everyone with two meals a week and a loaf of bread every two days.

On other days, Gaza's Christian community has to eke out their supplies or forage for themselves.

People walk for long hours to get a small box of food, which in the end is not enough for three people.

"Sharing is part of daily life and their new Christian identity" ACN's project partner says.

Disease

Poor sanitation is another concern.

Children have a virus causing nausea and diarrhoea. Four elderly people are seriously ill and need hospitalisation - an impossibility at present.

The war has created an "objectively intolerable situation" says Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch.

"We have always had many problems of all kinds, even the economic-financial situation has always been very fragile, but the famine has never been there.

"Everyone - religious, political and social communities - they must do everything possible to break this situation."

Easter

Faith is something that encourages Gaza's Christian community, says ACN's project partner.

"With God's grace, our children are now even closer to their faith than ever before. It is a very special Easter, we are closer than ever to the crucified Saviour.

"Pray for us, pray for the whole population, that this war might end."

Source

• ACN International
• Crux

Fifty-four members of the Connection City Church Assemblies of God were on a Holy Land tour when Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched a surprise attack, killing hundreds and wounding thousands.

"I'm not going to feel safe until I touch New Zealand soil," tour member Pesi Sikalu told the Herald. Read more

"My thoughts turn to the events taking place these days in the Holy Land," Francis said, referring to the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

"I thank God for the decision to halt the armed conflicts and acts of violence, and I pray for the pursuit of paths of dialogue and peace."

He asked Catholics to pray for dialogue, forgiveness and peaceful coexistence in the Holy Land.

"May every community pray to the Holy Spirit ‘that Israelis and Palestinians may find the path of dialogue and forgiveness, be patient builders of peace and justice, and be open, step by step, to a common hope, to coexistence among brothers and sisters,'" he said, quoting remarks he made on 16th May.

The pope also noted that on Saturday, Catholic bishops of the Holy Land together with the faithful celebrate the Vigil of Pentecost in Saint Stephen's Church in Jerusalem and implore the gift of peace.

"I take this occasion to ask all the pastors and faithful of the Catholic Church to unite themselves spiritually with this prayer," he said, asking for every Catholic community to pray so that "Israelis and Palestinians may find the path of dialogue and forgiveness, be patient builders of peace and justice, and be open, step by step, to a common hope, to coexistence among brothers and sisters."

Francis made the comments while addressing the ambassadors from Singapore, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Algeria, Sri Lanka, Barbados, Sweden, Finland, and Nepal, who were presenting letters of accreditation.

During his address, Francis highlighted the role of diplomats in forging a global consensus, and he said the Holy See "supports every effort to build a world in which the human person is at the centre, finance is at the service of an integral development, and the earth, our common home, is protected and cared for."

Sources

• Crux
• Catholic Universe

The relic has most recently been at Rome's Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

It is said "a very large number of pilgrims from all over the world" went to the Basilica each day to "venerate it".

The relic was put on display in Jerusalem for a short time before continuing its journey to Bethlehem.

Encased in an ornate stand, the relic was welcomed to Bethlehem by a procession of marching bands.

It is now at its permanent home at the Franciscan Church of St Catherine, on the West Bank.

St Catherine's is next door to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. This is the place tradition says Jesus was born.

The relic's arrival coincides with the beginning of Advent.

Advent - the four-week period leading up to Christmas - started on Sunday.

St Sophronius, who was the patriarch of Jerusalem, sent the relic to Pope Theodore I in the 640s.

That was about the time of the Muslim conquest of the Holy Land.

Dr Yisca Harani, an Israeli expert on Christianity, says many relics were relocated from the Holy Land in the Middle Ages.

"A thousand years ago, Rome was busy collecting relics from the East to build itself up as an alternative Jerusalem. Now, Rome is strong enough that it can return relics to Jerusalem and Bethlehem," she says.

A relic from the manger would have been useful for dispelling heresies suggesting Jesus was a spiritual rather than a physical being, she says

The pope's return of such an important item "is definitely a statement saying the Vatican and the Holy Land are together".

Bethlehem's mayor, Anton Salman, says the relic's return followed a request from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a recent visit to the Vatican.

The relic is not the first religious artifact Pope Francis has returned.

Earlier this year, he gave bone fragments said to be of Saint Peter to the leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

He said the fragment's return was intended to bring the Orthodox and Catholic churches together.

Source

• BBC
• The Journal.ie
• Image: ABS-CBN News

Catholics in New Zealand have given more than $840,000 to the upkeep of sacred sites in the Holy Land over the past six years, but contributions to the annual collection are falling.

In 2012 the collection raised $222,500 but last year the amount fell to $122,500, says the Commissary of the Holy Land for New Zealand, Father Anthony Malone, OFM.

The practice originated in 1887 when Pope Leo XIII directed that a Good Friday collection be taken up in every parish church throughout the world for the support of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.

The Franciscans have been entrusted with the maintenance of sacred sites in the Holy Land since 1217.

In 1995 the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference asked that the money raised in the Good Friday collection in this country be allocated to specific projects.

When Father Malone attended a meeting of Holy Land commissaries from English-speaking countries that year he asked that a specific shrine and a particular charitable work be earmarked to receive future funds from the New Zealand Good Friday collection.

The shrine chosen was the Wedding Church at Cana in Galilee, which commemorates Jesus' first public miracle — the changing of water into wine at a wedding feast.

Have a look at what Cana looks like today

The charitable work chosen was the provision of 20 university scholarships each year for Palestinian students from impoverished families.

This is in line with the Franciscan Custody's practice of using the Good Friday collection to help local Christians — described as the "living stones" of the Holy Land — to remain in the land where Jesus walked.

Source

Supplied. Pat McCarthy

Image: seetheholyland.net

Leading Holy Land Christians called the burglary at the site "a heinous crime and an act that violates the sanctity of the Holy Sites".

They have asked the police to conduct an investigation. They hope the police will "seriously look into the matter and apprehend the perpetrators who are culpable of these disgraceful act".

The Church of the Transfiguration is on Mount Tabor, near the Sea of Galilee in Israel.

It is held to be the site of Christ's Transfiguration.

Unknown burglars robbed the church Monday. They destroyed the tabernacle, desecrated the Hosts, and stole the ciborium after throwing the Hosts on the floor. A ciborium is a container shaped like a shrine or a cup with an arched cover. It is used to hold the Eucharist.

Icons were damaged, chalices were stolen, and the donation box was robbed.

Although Jewish extremists have targeted some Christian churches and holy sites for vandalism, church officials say they believe robbery was the motive in this instance.

There was no graffiti painted on the church, which is a major pilgrimage site for Christians.

At the Transfiguration, Christ went up the mountain to pray and his appearance was physically changed. He conversed with the prophets Elijah and Moses, according to the gospels.

The Transfiguration revealed Christ's divinity to his disciples Peter, James, and John, who were with him at the time.

Source

• CNA
• Source: See the Holy Land

Yusef Daher, secretary-general of the Jerusalem Interchurch Center, said the network of Israeli police barriers disrupt the flow and number of people who are able to reach the church of the Holy Sepulchre for Good Friday services and the Orthodox Holy Fire ceremony at the Easter Vigil.

It is part of the Israel's policy of making Jerusalem an exclusively Jewish city, said Daher. "This [restrictions] did not happen 10 years ago," he said.

The Holy Fire ceremony involves the sharing of fire which, according to tradition, is brought forth miraculously from the tomb of Jesus by the Greek Orthodox and Armenian patriarchs.

The flames are passed from person to person by torches to bundles of candles. Eventually fire from the ceremony is sent to the various parishes of the Holy Land.

The ceremony has become a point of contention over the past 10 years between the Israeli police and local Christians.

Authorities are saying that the single exit into the plaza makes the ceremony a high risk for visitors if a fire breaks out.

In 1808, a fire severely damaged the dome of the Rotunda and dozens of pilgrims were trampled to death, while in the mid-1800s a fire during the Holy Fire Ceremony reportedly also killed hundreds of pilgrims.

Daher, who heads the umbrella group for Christian churches in Jerusalem,said that although the single entrance and exit to the church cause a potential fire safety hazard, there had been no problem in more than a century.

Palestinian Christians living in the West Bank and Gaza, meanwhile, need special permits to attend Holy Week and Easter ceremonies.

Israel has said it will refrain from taking unilateral action concerning the churches in order to avoid provoking protests.

Sources

CNS/The Tablet
Catholic News Service
America Magazine
Image: EPA/America

From the drug cartel war in Mexico, to the civil war in South Sudan, to the Islamic State war, armed conflict has spread like an infectious deadly disease - which of course it is.

But nowhere is war more ironic than in the Holy Land; the land on which the feet of the God of peace (1 Thess 5:23) walked.

Matt McGarry Catholic Relief Services' Country Representative for Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza explained to me in an email interview that the situation there is extremely tense.

From Jerusalem McGarry wrote, "Knife and vehicular attacks on Israeli civilians and security personnel, extrajudicial executions of Palestinian suspects, near daily protests and clashes, regular closures and roadblocks have combined to create a very unstable situation," in this part of the world.

McGarry explained that Palestinians in Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and Gaza face numerous serious challenges, many of which are becoming more pronounced by the day. High rates of unemployment in the region - Gaza's astronomical 44 percent unemployment rate - home demolitions, extensive restrictions on movement, separation of families, and constant conflict are all major difficulties.

Similar to the confined townships in former apartheid South Africa, the Bethlehem area - nearly strangled by the Israeli separation barrier - is an example of an apartheid-like township where freedom of movement is seriously limited.

According to a commentary taken from the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns' Middle East Notes (http://bit.ly/1OGStPn), there are no realistic prospects for a viable two-state solution in the foreseeable future. "The on-going and permanent occupation of the West Bank, the ‘imprisonment' of the Gaza people, and the increasing restrictions of Jerusalem Palestinians, give evidence that Israel is moving toward complete annexation of all the ‘occupied territories.'

"The focus held by Israeli, Palestinian and world-wide advocates for justice and peace, is toward pressuring the Israel government to guarantee and promote basic human rights of all the people under its control - Israelis and Palestinians."

An excellent way to greatly help accomplish the establishment of basic human rights is to actively promote the "Holy Land Principles" (www.holylandprinciples.org).

These principles in summary call on U.S. companies operating in Israel and Palestine to adhere to equal and fair employment practices in all areas without discrimination, to actively recruit underrepresented employee groups, and to work with governmental and community authorities to eliminate ethnic, racial and religious disparities in government spending on education, training, access to health care and housing.

Another excellent organization dedicated to justice and peace in the Holy Land is Churches for Middle East Peace (www.cmep.org).

An additional way to help ease the suffering in the Holy Land is to support Catholic Relief Services' fair trade initiatives. One of the projects CRS supported this year helped fund the complete renovation of six unsafe, unhealthy olive wood workshops in the Bethlehem region, benefitting 225 workers and their communities.

Kindly consider making an early Christmas gift to help Caritas Aotearoa NZ's efforts to improve living conditions in the Holy Land by going to this link http://www.caritas.org.nz.

Easing the hardships of our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land will assist our preparation for a rebirth of the Prince of Peace in our hearts this Christmas.

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated social justice and peace columnist.

The Holocaust Centre of New Zealand awarded scholarships to Adele Churchman of Roncalli College in Timaru, Colin Macleod of Kavanagh College in Dunedin and Dan Stollenwerk from St Peter's College in Auckland.

The three visited the Holy Land and received lectures on the life, music, literature and art in Europe's Jewish ghettos.

The teachers also learned about the history of anti-semitism, up to the creation of the state of Israel.

Among questions discussed were "Did anti-semitism in the medieval Catholic Church contribute to the Holocaust?" and "Where was God in the Holocaust?"

They also considered the prospects for peace in the Middle East.

Continue reading

The conservative order's founder, Fr Marcial Maciel Degollado, was a sexual predator, abusing young seminarians and living a double life that included fathering three children by two women from Mexico.

He was dismissed from ministry by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 and died in 2008.

In an article in the National Catholic Reporter, investigative journalist Jason Berry wrote that the order has shifted its fundraising focus to Holy Land pilgrimages.

It has started a major fundraising drive for its Magdala Center at the Sea of Galilee and has raised US$40 million out of its US$100 million target.

The complex, with newly discovered ruins of a synagogue Jesus may have visited, will contain an archaeological park, women's institute, media centre and a luxury hotel the Legion will own.

A booklet intended to promote the new centre, Magdala: God Really Loves Women, shows the posthumous hold Fr Marcial still holds over the order, despite attempts at reform, Berry wrote.

Legionary priest Fr Juan Maria Solana, who heads the Magdala project, wrote the following statement in the booklet.

"Marcial Maciel's initials are also MM, just like Mary Magdalene. She had a problematic past before her deliverance, so there's a parallel. Our world has double standards when it comes to morals. Some people have a formal, public display and then the real life they live behind the scenes.

"But when we accuse someone else and we are quick to stone him, we must remember that we all have problems and defects. With modern communications so out of control, it is easy to kill someone's reputation without even investigating about the truth. We should be quieter and less condemning."

Berry wrote the Legion has had a fire sale of assets elsewhere as donors have dried up.

In 2009, the order admitted Marcial's wrongdoings.

The Legion has yet to receive approval from Pope Francis for reworked constitutions, which were submitted to the Pope months ago.

Commonweal associate editor Mollie Watson O'Reilly wrote that the portrayal of Mary Magdalene as associated with sexual sin is "an error in scriptural interpretation . . . helped along by a misogynistic tendency to associate women with sexual sin".

Mary Magdalene should be seen as the Apostle to the Apostles, the first witness to the Resurrection, she wrote.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Commonweal blog
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

By that standard, Francis showed that Catholicism on his watch is alive and kicking by delivering one of the greatest surprises of his papacy — a peace summit that's likely to have no immediate impact whatsoever on the Middle East peace process, but that yet still managed to feel like a historic turning point.

In truth, going in to Sunday's prayer with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres, neither the pope nor his advisers were expecting a miracle.

"Anybody who has even a minimum understanding of the situation would never think that as of Monday, peace will break out," said Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, a Franciscan priest based in the Middle East who organised the event.

The pope's lone ambition, he said, was to "open a path" that was previously closed.

Yet even if nothing results on the Israeli/Palestinian front, there are three reasons why tonight's "invocation for peace" was much more than a photo-op.

First, it represents a revitalization of the Vatican's diplomatic capacity after a period in which it hit a nadir. Continue reading.

John L. Allen Jr is associate editor at the Globe, specialising in coverage of the Vatican and the Catholic Church. He also serves as senior Vatican analyst for CNN, and was for 16 years a correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter.

Source: Boston Globe

Image: Patheos

In 2025, Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians may return to Nicaea, the spot in modern-day Turkey where Christianity was literally defined.

In 325, early followers of Jesus came together to figure out what it means to be a Christian; the goal was to create theological consensus across all of Christendom.

This was way before the faith sub-divided into East vs. West, Catholics vs. Protestants, Southern Baptists vs. Primitive Baptists—these were the early days of the religion, when it still seemed like it could be observed as one, united faith.

The council's effect on Christianity was huge; for one thing, most Bible-school students still learn some version of the Nicene Creed, the profession of Christian faith.

On his way home from a meeting with Pope Francis in the Holy Land, Patriarch Bartholomew I, the primary leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians,gave an interview in which he said that he and Francis are planning a gathering in Nicaea 11 years from now "to celebrate together, after 17 centuries , the first truly ecumenical synod."

That's a pretty big deal; in 1054, theological disagreements led to a schism in Christianity, which is how Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians became separate faith traditions.

This is a call back to a time before the schism, before the fundamental disagreements that kept popes and patriarchs from talking to each other for more than 900 years. Continue reading.

Source: The Atlantic

Image: Icon of the first council of Nicaea, with Emperor Constantine and the first bishops, Royal Doors

The Pope at the River Jordan, visiting with Syrian refugees, celebrating mass in Bethlehem, praying at the separation wall, uniting with the Ecumenical Patriarch, visiting the Dome of the Rock, leaving a note at the Western Wall, kissing the hands of Holocaust survivors... to name a few.

However, the image that stood out most to me was a spontaneous embrace between Sheikh Omar Abboud, Rabbi Abraham Skorka and Pope Francis in front of the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

The three religious leaders from Argentina held to each other in solidarity, drawing strength from their friendship and experiencing a moment of sacredness; made more holy by one another's presence.

These three representing the different faith traditions that inhabit the Holy Land offer to all of us a symbol of hope in a land that is desperate for peace.

Traveling with his Muslim and Jewish friends, the Pope used the powerful practice of compassion to hear and honour the stories of pain, struggle and hope of people in all different locations in the Mideast conflict.

The Pope didn't take one side or the other, he took the side of peace and so can we. Continue reading.

Paul Brandeis Raushenbush is a Baptist minister and the Executive Religion Editor for the Huffington Post.

Source: Huffington Post

Image: New York University

On May 26, the Pope kissed the hands of half a dozen Holocaust survivors and heard their stories of persecution by the Nazis.

He left an inscription in the Yad Vashem guest book.

"With shame for what man, who was created in the image of God, was able to do.

"With shame for the fact that man made himself the owner of evil.

"With shame that man made himself into God and sacrificed his brothers.

"Never again, never again."

The inscription is signed "Francisco" and the date.

Pope Francis crammed 10 events and five private meetings into the last day of his trip.

He visited the Al-Aqsa mosque at the Dome of the Rock, the third holiest site in Islam, and met the Chief Mufti of Jerusalem.

A Vatican spokesman said this was the first time Pope Francis had entered a mosque.

Pope Francis pleaded for "all communities who look to Abraham" to come together in tolerance and respect.

He also visited the Western Wall, the remnant of the Second Temple, which is sacred to Jews, and placed a written prayer in the wall.

In a meeting with Chief Rabbis, the Pope called the progress made in Catholic-Jewish relations "a genuine gift of God".

Pope Francis showed just how much interfaith relations have improved by laying a wreath at the Mt Herzl memorial, the resting place of Zionism pioneer Theodor Herzl.

When Herzl met with Pope Pius X in 1904 to plead for the establishment of a Jewish state, Pius rejected the request.

"The Jews have not recognized our Lord; we therefore cannot recognize the Jewish people," Pius told Herzl.

At the request of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on May 26 Pope Francis also stopped at a West Jerusalem memorial for victims of terrorism.

The Pope was shown the section dedicated to the victims of the 1994 bombing of a Jewish association in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.

The Pontiff also celebrated Mass in the Cenacle, believed to be the site of the Last Supper.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• The Tablet
• Al-Jazeera
• Haaretz.com
• Image: Ynet News

Speaking in Bethlehem, the Pope offered President Shimon Peres and President Mahmoud Abbas "my home in the Vatican as a place for this encounter of prayer".

"Building peace is difficult, but living without peace is a constant torment," the Pontiff said.

Representatives of Mr Peres and Mr Abbas were quick to accept the Pope's invitation.

According to Haaretz.com, a senior Israeli official said a Vatican envoy delivered the invitations to pray to Mr Abbas and Mr Peres several days before the Pope's visit.

In Bethlehem on May 25, Pope Francis made a stop next to the separation wall.

He placed his forehead on the concrete barrier that divides Israel and Palestinian territories and prayed in silence.

Pope Francis was clear in his demand that Palestine be recognised as a sovereign state.

But he held Palestinians to the same standard to recognise Israel.

After he arrived in Bethlehem, Pope Francis met with Mr Abbas and called for "the acknowledgment by all of the right of two states to exist and to live in peace and security within internationally recognised borders".

Ten thousand people were at a Mass celebrated by the Pope in Manger Square.

After Mass, Pope Francis had lunch with five Palestinian families and met with children at the Deheisheh Refugee Camp, where he urged them never to "abandon hope, and always look forward."

"You don't solve violence with violence," he told them.

Francis also labelled the current stalemate in peace efforts as "unacceptable".

The Pope went on to make a state visit to Tel Aviv, where he also issued an invitation to pray for peace.

Pope Francis then flew on to Jerusalem, where he joined Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I in prayer in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The meeting commemorated 50 years since Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras first met in 1964.

"Clearly we cannot deny the divisions which continue to exist among us, the disciples of Jesus," Pope Francis said.

"This sacred place makes us even more painfully aware of how tragic they are," he said.

On the first day of his three-day pilgrimage, the Pope visited Jordan.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• The Tablet
• CNN
• Haaretz
• Fox News
• Image: BBC

In one short trip, I prayed at the spot where Jesus was born, stood at the foot of the mountain where he fed the 5,000 and touched the rock into which his cross was planted.

To all those atheists who say "Jesus wasn't even real", I've been to his house - an unassuming little place in Nazareth where the Biblical stories and archaeological evidence cohabit.

Seeing all those wonders requires elbows of steel.

The queues of Orthodox pilgrims were not unlike those that sprang up when the first McDonald's opened in Moscow: thousands of old Russian women pushing and shoving their way to the front in a frenzied dash for a taste of the divine.

Yes, I may have swung the odd punch, but only ever in self-defence.

What's equally striking is the physical reality of the Israeli-Arab conflict.

A trip to the Western Wall in Jerusalem is instructive.

Jews believe that this is one of the walls of their sacred Temple and they come here from all over the world to pray, pushing their handwritten petitions into the cracks of the warm, smooth stone.

Jews were barred from the site until 1967, when they captured the Old City during the Six-Day War (you can still see the bullet holes).

They formalised their ownership of the Wall by bulldozing the 770-year old Moroccan Quarter that stood in front of it.

It was a horrendous piece of vandalism, but all in keeping with the history of the Holy Land. Continue reading.

Source: The Catholic Herald

Image: The Atlantic/AP

Rather, the Pope wants to travel by an ordinary car during his visit from May 24-26.

Most heads of state use bullet-proof transport in the Middle East.

Fears about security for the pontiff have been rising in Israel amid concerns that Francis's pilgrimage could be disrupted by extremists.

Following a series of threats to Christians and the desecration of holy sites, Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch warned of a "wave of extremist terror" in Israel.

Patriarch Fouad Twal said that a wave of fanaticism and intimidation against Christians was "poisoning" the festive spirit in the city in the run-up to the historic visit.

Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi said: "The Pope wants an open popemobile and a normal car."

"The local security officials took the wishes of the Pope into consideration. I don't think there was too much discussion about that," the Jesuit said.

Previous pontiffs were driven in bullet-proof limousines on trips, after the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II.

Security broke down and police were unable to control crowds in Brazil last year when Francis was driven around Rio de Janeiro in a small silver Fiat, at his own request.

But Fr Lombardi said he did not expect similar scenes in the Middle East because Catholics are a minority there.

The Pope has invited a Muslim and a rabbi to join him on the visit to the Holy Land in what the Vatican called "an absolute first".

Rabbi Abraham Skorka and Omar Abboud are long time friends from Francis's days as Archbishop of Buenos Aires.

Francis wanted to show that it was "normal" to have friends from other faiths, Fr Lombardi said.

The Vatican has emphasised that the Pope's main purpose on the trip is to meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew are scheduled meet four times during the pope's visit.

This comes 50 years after the historic meeting between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras, which was a landmark opening in ecumenical dialogue.

Sources

• The Tablet
• Catholic News Service
• NBC News
• Image: Huffington Post

The Hamas government has issued a ban on coeducational schools, which means that the five Christian schools on the strip, two Catholic and three Protestant, may have to close. Officials insist the decision was not directed at Christians, but they happen to run the only coeducational institutions in the territory.

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, plans to meet Gaza's prime minister to appeal the move. Among other things, presumably he'll point out that these Christian schools serve a largely Muslim population.

For purposes of this column, the way I learned about the situation is almost as revealing as the order itself. As it happens, I received an email from the Israeli embassy to the Holy See, passing along a brief article from the Catholic Herald in the U.K.

Israeli officials clearly felt the story merited attention, and for fairly obvious reasons: It makes Hamas look bad.

It was a small reminder of a larger point: It's often difficult to tell the full story of anti-Christian persecution around the world and a main reason why is the distorting effect of politics, which tends to bring only part of the picture into view. Nowhere is that more clear than the Holy Land.

Many Arab Christians, in tandem with their liberal sympathizers in the West, emphasize the negative impact of Israeli security policies while downplaying Islamic radicalism. On the other side, Israelis and their conservative allies insist that Israel's Christian population is actually growing while pouncing on every perceived Palestinian outrage.

The truth is that Christians face hardships on both sides of the divide, and often for similar reasons. Continue reading

Sources

• John L. Allen Jr in National Catholic Reporter
• Image: The Counter Jihad Report

John L. Allen Jr is a senior columnist for National Catholic Reporter

And in Jerusalem there were 27,000 Christians in 1948, but today there are only 5000, according to Professor Hanna Issa, professor of international law and secretary-general of the Islamic-Christian Committee for the Protection of Jerusalem and the Holy Places.

The drastic decrease of the percentage of the Christian presence in the Holy Land is due to emigration and to the population growth rates of Christians being much lower than those recorded in the Muslim majority component of the Palestinian population, Professor Issa told the Fides news service.

According to Father Manuel Musallam, a longtime parish priest in Gaza and now with the foreign relations department of the Fatah political party, where he is in charge of relations with the Christian communities, serious action is needed to deal with the political, economic and social factors that encourage the flight of Christians from the Holy Land.

Christians emigrate to seek new prospects for work and study, and to raise a family, Father Musallam said.

"From Gaza and other areas," he says, "people go away for lack of minimum requirements to guarantee a dignified existence."

In Jerusalem, many were persuaded to sell their homes because they received high offers that were enough to ensure the transfer of the whole family to some Western country, where they would have a higher standard of living.

Father Musallam called on the Palestinian Authority to put in place measures to support a permanent Christian presence in the Holy Land.

He said Christians need protection of the right to education for students, access to the labour market and the possibility of establishing a home for new families.

Source:

Fides

Image: Seetheholyland

The meeting of Athenagoras and Paul VI in Jerusalem led to the rescinding of the excommunications of 1054 which formalised the Great Schism between the churches of East and West.

Bartholomew I also invited Pope Francis to Constantinople for the feast day of St Andrew on November 30.

Continue reading