Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, head of the Catholic Church’s work in the Holy Land, traveled to Christian villages in the West Bank this month to express solidarity with communities facing military restrictions and settler violence that threaten their presence in the region.
Pizzaballa celebrated Mass on August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the Latin Church of Christ the Redeemer in Taybeh and visited the village of Jenin. His visit came weeks after an Israeli military order issued in July declared the area surrounding Taybeh and Rimon a closed military zone, prohibiting both Israelis and foreign nationals from entering or remaining in the designated territory.
Ancient Christian presence under pressure
Taybeh holds particular significance in the history of Middle Eastern Christianity. Monsignor Peter Vaccari, speaking on behalf of the Vatican’s agency for the Holy Land, described the village as “a place which has been inhabited by followers of Jesus, by Christians, for 2,000 years.” Today it stands as the only predominantly Christian village remaining in the West Bank, a distinction that underscores the rapid demographic shifts in the region over recent decades, as first reported by the EWTN News.
The closed military zone designation affects not only Taybeh’s built-up residential area but also its agricultural land and sites of religious and historical significance. Such restrictions compound pressures that Christian residents already face from other sources.
Radical settlers and vandalism
In recent years, extremist settlers have engaged in campaigns of vandalism and intimidation targeting Christian properties and businesses. Last year, the ancient Church of St. George in the area was vandalized and set afire, an incident that crystallized the vulnerability of Christian religious and cultural heritage in the region.
Michael J. L. LaCivita, an official with the Vatican’s Holy Land agency, characterized the situation facing these communities in an interview on EWTN News Nightly on August 21: “As Christians in the Holy Land feel that they’re in danger of losing their homes and their livelihoods, Pizzaballa was able to assure them that they will not be abandoned.”
Papal solidarity and the path forward
Pizzaballa’s pastoral visit served as a visible manifestation of the Church’s commitment to Christians whose future in their ancestral homeland has grown uncertain. The cardinal’s presence among the communities, and his participation in liturgy at one of their central places of worship, conveyed institutional support at a moment when legal restrictions and physical threats have intensified the sense of isolation.
The Catholic Church has long emphasized the importance of Christian presence in the Middle East, viewing the Arab Christian communities as an integral part of the region’s religious and cultural fabric. The decline in their numbers—through emigration, displacement, and the effects of conflict—has become a recurring concern in Vatican statements and papal teaching.
Vaccari and other Church officials have framed the situation not merely as a humanitarian concern but as a question of religious freedom and the right of Christian communities to maintain their homes, their livelihoods, and their places of worship without interference. Pizzaballa’s visit underscored that the Church intends to remain engaged with these communities, even as the circumstances in which they live grow more precarious.