Patriarch asks Christians to stay in the Holy Land despite difficulties

ROME – With the current Gaza war nearing its one-year mark, and with few credible prospects for peace in the short-term, Jerusalem’s Latin patriarch has urged Christians to stay, and has asked for prayers amid what he has called an “objectively intolerable” situation.

Speaking in a video message to Catholic parishes in the Holy Land published July 22, Italian Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, acknowledged that “life here is very difficult” and that “the Holy...