July/August 2024: Editorial

Editorial
A man of few words from Bergamo     

The forthcoming visit to Ireland of the Italian born Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa is both welcome and timely. Over generations deep spiritual and cultural links between Ireland and the Holy Land have been forged through pilgrimages and peacemaking largely transcending the political quagmire that has made that part of the world sacred to so many people one of the most historically blood-soaked places on earth. The tragic repercussions of the ongoing conflict has also engaged and even wrung the hearts of many Irish people whose own experience of conquest, colonization and religious intolerance allows them to empathize not only with the Jewish people and their history of persecution and justified need for a secure homeland but also with the people of Palestine who have suffered such grave injustice and discrimination for so long in the land of their birth. It is within this painful context Cardinal Pizzaballa has now spent more than 30 years among them and shoulders ultimate pastoral responsibility for the beleaguered Catholic community including the tiny Holy Family parish in Gaza. He also supports other Christian groups and their leaders who comprise a tiny percentage of the population of Israel, just 2-3 per cent, in an increasingly hostile environment.

In this month’s Intercom where he reflects with Vatican News correspondent Roberto Cetera on the tragedy of Gaza, he describes himself as ‘a man of few words from Bergamo’ yet his few words have as Cetera claims, made him a strong and leading presence in the heart of horrifying events. Whilst treading a delicate diplomatic tightrope last October after the attack of Hamas on Israel, he even offered himself as a hostage in exchange for captive Israeli children held in Gaza.

May his visit to our shores give him a measure of respite and rest from the grim events he inevitably faces upon his return to his Holy Land flock.

Paul Clayton-Lea 

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