Energetic, resolutely modern, as comfortable with technology as with theology, and deeply cosmopolitan, Patriarch Pizzaballa shares Pope Francis’ intention to restore Jerusalem to its former glory.
Israel Palestine
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Anti-Christian incidents are on the rise in Jerusalem’s Old City
A journalist in Israel, dressed as a priest, was spat on by ultra-orthodox Jewish extremists. Attacks against Christian groups in the region are increasing over recent years.
Posted inArts & Culture, Faith in Focus
Writing music for the women of the Passion helped me embrace the contradictions of being Catholic
The Notre Dame Folk Choir was like a family I did not want to leave behind.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Looking toward holy days, turmoil in Israel over Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul causes concern
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been coming out into the streets for the past three months in escalating pro-democracy protests against the most politically and religiously extreme right-wing government Israel has ever had.
Posted inFaith, News
American Jewish tourist arrested in Jerusalem for vandalizing statue of Jesus
In a statement condemning the attack against a Christian site—the fifth in Jerusalem in five weeks—the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land said it was following the incident “with concern.”
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
For Palestinians with disabilities, there is room at the inn this year in Bethlehem
The latest boutique hotel to open its doors in Bethlehem’s Old City, just minutes away from Manger Square, is the Morcos Nassar Palace, which doubles as a humanitarian project unique in Palestine and possibly in the Arab world.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
As Netanyahu puts his government together, Christians contemplate their future in Israel and the West Bank
Mere “survival should not be the utmost ambition for a people in democratic countries, but rather prosperity and welfare. I believe that Israel is going to be more Jewish and much less democratic, and we’ll all pay the price for that.”
Posted inInterviews, Politics & Society
Interview: Jesuit Father David Neuhaus says Jerusalem ‘is like a powder keg waiting to explode!’
“Jerusalem, especially the Old City with its shrines holy to Muslims, Jews and Christians, is like a powder keg waiting to explode! However, until it does explode, many prefer to simply ignore it.”
Posted inInterviews, Politics & Society
Israeli Jesuit David Neuhaus on the country’s election turmoil and the forgotten plight of the Palestinians
Israelis will go to the polls on Nov. 1 for the fifth time in less than four years. Will the elections bring any significant change in this divided country, or offer any hope for a resolution to the more than 70-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
Posted inDispatches, Faith
‘I always pray with a rosary’: Inside Joe Biden’s personal pilgrimage to Bethlehem
One part of President Joe Biden’s ultra-publicized trip to the Middle East took place in private, away from the eyes of any of the journalists who accompanied him on the five-day visit.