Jerusalem patriarch prays for ‘true Jubilee’ in Holy Land

“May debts be forgiven, prisoners be freed, property be returned, and may serious and credible paths of reconciliation and forgiveness sincerely begin with courage and determination.”

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa visited Gaza on Sunday 22 December. He presided at a Mass at the Holy Family Church, praying with the hundreds seeking sanctuary there.

He also met Archbishop Alexios of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate at the parish of St Porphyrius, marking the collaboration between Gaza’s Christian communities. The cardinal inspected the humanitarian initiatives organised by the Latin Patriarchate and the Order of Malta, mentioning his hopes to reopen a school in the region.

The Gazan health authorities reported that four newborn babies froze to death over the Christmas period, as the weather deteriorated and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) offensive damaged health facilities. The IDF forcibly evacuated one of the few operational hospitals in northern Gaza last weekend, with soldiers unplugging oxygen supplies and stripping patients as they removed them from the Kamal Adwan Hospital, which was then burned.

The World Health Organisation said it was “appalled” by the raid, which it said partially destroyed the hospital. It said the “systematic dismantling of the health system” combined with an 80-day siege of the north of Gaza “puts the lives of the 75,000 Palestinians remaining in the area at risk”.

Following the raid, the IDF said it had arrested 240 Palestinian patients and medical staff, including the hospital director Dr Hussam Abu Safiyeh, claiming they are “terrorist operatives”.

Archbishops describe sorrow over loss and devastation in Gaza

Christmas a ‘season of grieving’ in Bethlehem

Before Christmas, the Revd Munther Isaac from Bethlehem’s Lutheran Church declared during a service broadcast internationally that “Christ is still in the rubble”. He said: “This is His manger. Jesus finds His place with the marginalised, the tormented, the oppressed, and the displaced.”

The West Bank saw subdued Christmas celebrations. Community Peacemaker Teams reported: “Demolitions, olive tree uprooting, arrests, murders … prohibitions to leave homes, neighbourhoods, or even enter them, are being imposed. There are also restrictions to going to school or harvesting crops.” They said “neighbourhoods have become ‘ghettos’ surrounded by settlers and checkpoints”.

Cardinal Pizzaballa arrived in Bethlehem on 24 December for the customary procession to the Basilica of the Nativity, before Christmas Eve Mass at the Church of Saint Catherine in Bethlehem, adjacent to the Nativity grotto.

Preaching at Midnight Mass, the cardinal said: “This is my prayer for our Holy Land, which has the utmost need for a true Jubilee … May there be this new beginning for us in the Holy Land. May debts be forgiven, prisoners be freed, property be returned, and may serious and credible paths of reconciliation and forgiveness, without which there will never be true peace, sincerely begin with courage and determination.”

In south Lebanon, where sporadic fighting continued despite a ceasefire between the IDF and Hezbollah, parishioner Georges Elia installed a small Christmas tree in the ruins of the historic St George Melkite Catholic Church at Derdghaiya. An IDF strike destroyed the eighteenth-century church in October.

“This year, Christmas is arriving with sadness for us, but we didn’t want it to be a sad one for the town’s residents and its church. We tried to put up a tree, even if it is a modest and simple one,” Elia said.

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