Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine - July 24, 2013: A Sikh visitor at the Church of the Nativity touches the star that marks the spot where Jesus was born. Photo: Joel Carillet KNA
“Pilgrimage is now absolutely safe and also important for society,” the head of Catholics in the Holy Land said recently on a trip to Germany. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, is counting on a rapid normalisation of pilgrimage tourism following the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
He hopes that the relative calming of the war situation in Israel will lead to more pilgrims arriving again in a few weeks’ time. Pilgrimages and religious tourism are an important economic factor for many Christians in the region. With regard to Germany, Cardinal Pizzaballa said that there was no reason for airlines to interrupt their flights to Israel.
Christians in the Middle East under pressure
During a lecture at the Cologne School of Catholic Theology, the Jerusalem Patriarch also pointed out the threat to Christianity in the Middle East. In Jerusalem, for example, hostility towards Christians from radical Jews had increased significantly. Religious in particular are now avoiding certain neighbourhoods for fear of spitting attacks and other assaults. There are also Jewish organisations that specifically document such cases in the fight against hatred. “But the general indifference is a problem,” Cardinal Pizzaballa told the Catholic News Agency (KNA).
The Christian minority is under particular pressure, which is also reflected in the high emigration figures”
The cardinal expressed his concern with regard to radical Islam, as is currently evident once again in attacks by Islamist militias in the newly flared Syrian civil war. The Middle East is going through enormous social and political conflicts that affect everyone in the region, he said. However, the Christian minority is under particular pressure, which is also reflected in the high emigration figures. “Everything depends on whether there is a political perspective,” says Cardinal Pizzaballa. However, the model of Western democracy does not fit with the religious and confessional mentality of the people in the region.