“If Our Lord has promised certain things, over the course of history He will also be able to fulfill them.”
When we think about the Christians in the Holy Land, we refer to them as the ‘living stones’ of this land. What kind of existence are these ‘stones’ experiencing today?
At the moment, there are no pilgrims coming to the Holy Land. The situation at present is like the one we experienced during the pandemic. Furthermore, there is the added difficulty of the West Bank being closed, so many of those who used to travel from Bethlehem to Jerusalem for work no longer are able to do so. Those who have retained the possibility to move -such as our school teachers-, have to have their fingerprints scanned at the checkpoint when entering and exiting. If by mistake they do not do so, they are deemed to not have complied with this procedure, and so are penalized.
We are therefore witnessing a situation in which Palestinians who live in the West Bank (including Christians) are mostly confined within that territory; in the case of Bethlehem, Christians in the area have lost their jobs because their livelihood depended on the pilgrimage industry. In Gaza, the few remaining parishioners are waiting for the end of the war, and then they will count how many of them are still alive. In addition, even in Israel, Israeli Arabs, including Christians who had integrated well into the social fabric –for example, in Galilee-, are experiencing tremendous difficulty at the moment with the deterioration of relations and concerns for security.
In the Holy Land, many Christians often have difficulty understanding the various ecclesial presences. Can you explain the different areas of responsibility and action of the Custody of the Holy Land and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the collaborative relationship between the two?
Until 1847, the Custody was the sole presence in the Holy Land. When the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem was refounded, a distinction of roles was made. Episcopal functions belong to the Patriarch, and it is from him that directives for pastoral life originate. The Custos, on the other hand, is entrusted with the care of the Holy Places and the management of the status quo at the most important sanctuaries such as the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the Nativity in Bethlehem. This is done in collaboration with the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and the Armenian Apostolic Patriarchate.
We must also remember the difference in jurisdiction. The Latin Patriarchate operates in Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and Cyprus, while the Custody has Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Rhodes, and other territories too.
In addition, there are activities carried out by both the Patriarchate and the Custody, such as educational work through schools. The Custody has 18 schools throughout its territorial jurisdiction, including the oldest school in the Holy Land, which was founded in 1598 in Bethlehem. There are also parishes entrusted to us, including Nazareth, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Jericho, and Akko. In these cases, therefore, a coordinated service must be carried out.
The Holy Land’s needs, and those of the Christian communities living there, are currently immense. How has the Custody been able to organize itself?
As you well know in the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, there are two sources of ecclesial sustenance for the Holy Land. The first is the Order, which is called upon to support the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem more directly; the second, the Colletta del Venerdì Santo [Good Friday Collection], is distributed 65% to the Custody and 35% to the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches. The Pro Terra Sancta collection –that was reformed in 1974 by Pope Paul VI with the Apostolic Exhortation Nobis in Animo- is indispensable for us. Pre-dating this, fund collections were permitted by the Holy Land Commissariats [Franciscan presences in over 60 countries that raise awareness about the Holy Land and seek support and solidarity for the Custody to continue its mission, Ed.]. This is because the Custody is not just a Franciscan order mission; instead, it has an official mandate from the Holy See, which, with the bull Gratias agimus of 1342, entrusted our Order with the care of the holy places, and from there, also the pastoral and socio-assistance commitment. Moreover, it is also thanks to the centuries-old pastoral commitment of the friars of the Custody that by the mid-1800s the conditions were created to re-establish the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
However, today, in the absence of pilgrims, the economic burden of maintaining and managing the sanctuaries – which are normally self-sufficient thanks to income from pilgrimages – has become disproportionate to the available resources. It is therefore necessary to find resources both to continue maintaining these buildings and to continue providing jobs to the local Christians who serve there. We also have about a thousand employees working in our schools, and even on this front, the expense is challenging.