War in the Middle East
Mass in Bethlehem: Solidarity with people in Gaza
“My thoughts go out, without exception, to all those affected by this war, in Palestine and Israel and the entire region”: Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa. photo
© Nasser Nasser/AP Pool/dpa
As the Gaza war continues, Christmas is celebrated in Bethlehem. The highest representative of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land emphasizes: Solidarity goes to all those affected by war.
The highest representative of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, spoke at the midnight mass in Bethlehem expressed solidarity with the people in the embattled Gaza Strip.
Cardinal Pizzaballa compared the situation to the biblical story of Mary and Joseph, for whom there was no room in the hostel. “Just as it was for Mary and Joseph, it seems to us today as if there was no room for Christmas,” he said that night.
“At this moment, our thoughts cannot be far from those who lost everything in this war, including their loved ones, and who are now displaced, alone and paralyzed by their grief,” Pizzaballa said at the mass. “My thoughts go out, without exception, to all those affected by this war, in Palestine and Israel and throughout the region.” He also mentioned the hostages kidnapped from Israel to the Gaza Strip as well as “people who are sitting in prisons without the right to a trial.” He was obviously referring to Palestinian, so-called administrative prisoners in Israel.
Call for reconciliation
Pizzaballa also said that Palestinians have been living under Israeli occupation for decades and have been waiting in vain for the international community to find a solution to the conflict. He called on people to create an inner space of reconciliation. “There will be no justice and no peace unless we make room for them, through our open and generous ‘yes’.”
On Sunday, the Latin Patriarch led a much smaller Christmas procession from Jerusalem to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in view of the Gaza war. The usual larger celebrations in the West Bank town, which Christians revere as the birthplace of Jesus, were canceled because of the war.