The Inescapable Dilemma of the Catholic Church in Israel

Nine days after Hamas’s invasion of Israel, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, publicly offered to trade himself for hostages being held by Hamas. This noble, if perhaps empty, gesture suggests something that distinguishes the attitude of the Catholic Church’s chief cleric in Israel from his predecessors, as does the fact that Pizzaballa called Hamas’s deeds “barbaric.” Cole Aronson provides a history of the Latin patriarchate and a profile of the “big, quick-witted, businesslike Italian, fluent in English and Hebrew, with a doctorate from Hebrew University” (on the subject of Jewish texts), who is now patriarch: