Thursday, Sept. 21 at the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, H.B. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Patriarch of the Latins just days before being created cardinal, received reporters for a Press Conference. The Patriarchate which is based in Jerusalem has parishes in Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus.
On Sunday, July 9, 2023, during the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square in Rome Pope Francis made the usual surprise announcement of the creation of 21 new cardinals during the Consistory called for Sept. 30. The twenty-one included His Beatitude Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Patriarch of the Latins of Jerusalem.
“Their background expresses the universality of the Church, which continues to proclaim God’s merciful love to all people on earth,” Pope Francis said.
“I think Pope Francis in appointing me as Cardinal, chose not only the person, but especially the place, Jerusalem. It is a way of highlighting how Jerusalem is the heart of the life of the Church, because we are the Mother Church. Jerusalem is the center of the Church, but also the heart of many conflicts.” The patriarch highlighted.
H B PIERBATTISTA PIZZABALLA Patriarch of the Latins of Jerusalem The Church in Jerusalem is the heart of the world but it is also a little bit the periphery, let’s tell the truth. And the Pope is always attentive to the peripheries. Peripheries in the sense of places of conflict, of pain, of division, of difficulty. And Jerusalem is also a little bit of all this as well. So it is a sign of attention to this small community, suffering, but also resilient.
In the words of H.B. Pizzaballa, “life goes on, with different titles, but the responsibility is the same: I am the Shepherd of this Church of Jerusalem, in the Holy Land and throughout our Diocese, and I will continue to be the voice of the Christians of the Holy Land in the world.”
By cmc-terrasanta.org
