Following days of violence and a backlash after US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the Vatican this week appealed for “wisdom and prudence” to prevail. The Holy See “reiterates its own conviction that only a negotiated solution between Israelis and Palestinians can bring a stable and lasting peace and guarantee the peaceful coexistence of two states within internationally recognised borders,” the Vatican said on 10 December.
US President Donald Trump announced his decision on 6 December to move the US embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, fulfilling a promise he made during his presidential campaign. The announcement sparked anti-US protests in Asia and the Middle East, including in the Palestinian territories.
The Vatican said Pope Francis “raises fervent prayers so that the leaders of nations, in this time of special gravity, commit themselves to avert a new spiral of violence.”
Catholic leaders in Jerusalem were dismayed by Mr Trump’s decision. Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, apostolic administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, said in an interview that the planned embassy move “will create ... an explosion in all of the Arab countries.” In comments for an article published by the charity Aid to the Church in Need, he said that “any unilateral decision will create more frustration and anger and I’m afraid will bring to more violence.”
Pizzaballa was a signatory on a letter to Trump, sent just before his announcement, warning the President not to cause “irreparable harm” by changing the US position on Jerusalem. Contacted for comment on Monday, the umbrella organisation for church leaders, Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, referred The Tablet to this letter, which was also signed by the Custos of the Holy Lad Francesco Patton, and 11 other leading figures.
They were “certain” that a US change on Jerusalem “will yield increased hatred, conflict, violence and suffering in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, moving us farther from the goal of unity and deeper towards destructive division.”
Among Jewish religious leaders in Israel, the reaction was very different, with widespread joy among Orthodox Jews. Rejections of Trump’s position were mostly limited to ultra-Orthodox hard-liners who oppose Israel’s statehood. Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef and almost 250 other rabbis wrote to Mr Trump, saying: “We are confident that you will be remembered in the history of the Jewish people as one who stood at the forefront fearlessly.”
In the US the most enthusiastic supporters of the president’s decision were evangelical Christians. The US bishops’ conference did not issue any statement.
Egypt’s Coptic Christian leader, Pope Tawadros II, cancelled a meeting due in Cairo with the US vice president. The Coptic Church “excused itself from hosting Mike Pence”, a statement said, citing Trump’s decision made “without consideration for the feelings of millions of people”.
The Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, said that he fears for Jerusalem and its people. In a tweet he urged people to “heed again the words of Pope Francis: Jerusalem is a ‘unique city’ that has ‘a special vocation for peace’”.
PICTURE: Protesters near the US embassy in Amman, Jordan, hold a lampoon of President Donald Trump 7 December. The cartoon reads, "America is the Arab leader."
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