Four years after the Holy See and China reached a provisional agreement on the appointment of bishops, Archbishop Paul Gallagher says the results are “not terribly impressive.”
Israel Palestine
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Catholic leaders condemn Israeli violence at funeral of Palestinian-American journalist
Shireen Abu Akleh—a Palestinian-American, a Catholic and a 25-year veteran of Al Jazeera’s satellite channel—was shot Wednesday while covering an Israeli military raid in the Jenin refugee camp.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
The expansion of a ‘biblical theme park’ in Jerusalem is another sign of disregard for Palestinians
For more than a decade, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem has suffered noise and damages to homes from excavation work for a “Bible Park,” and residents fear they will be pushed out entirely.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
It is time for Israel to come clean about its nuclear weapons
The nuclear nonproliferation treaty (NPT) was written for a Cold War standoff between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. It can only be effective now if it includes new nuclear powers like Israel.
Posted inDispatches, Faith
Interpreting food to your faith: Holiday culinary traditions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism in Israel and Palestine
Since chef Fadi Kattan was a child getting underfoot in his grandmother’s kitchen, the preparation and communal eating of the burbara pudding has been a pre-Christmas symbol of the coming of the holiday on the Palestinian West Bank.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Patriarch Sabbah: This Christmas, there is ‘no peace on the earth’ in Bethlehem and Jerusalem
Patriarch Sabbah: “When you celebrate Christmas, remember that in Bethlehem, in Jerusalem, life is not a Christmas life. It is not the blessed life of the new redeemed humanity. The song of the Angels is far away.”
Posted inPolitics & Society, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
The Vatican issued a statement insisting that it is “absolutely necessary to reactivate direct dialogue” between Israelis and Palestinians “to achieve a two-state solution.”
Posted inEditorials, Politics & Society
Don’t let the plight of Palestinians fall out of the headlines (again)
The United States has dithered on establishing any policy to help bring an end to a conflict now in its eighth decade.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Jerusalem’s archbishop: Thank God for the cease-fire. But the everyday violence in the Holy Land continues.
“Violence is also in the language, in the political decisions, in the conditions of life under which the Gaza population has been living many years.”
Posted inJesuitical, Politics & Society
Podcast: Catholics need to pay attention to what’s happening in Israel-Palestine
What’s going on in the Holy Land—and what’s at the root of the problem? Why should Catholics care?