Peace be with you! Message of return from mission in the Holy Land
Summary
In 2025, French bishops visited the Holy Land to support local Christian communities affected by conflict. They called for peace and justice, highlighting the needs for humanitarian aid and respect for human dignity amid ongoing violence. They urged French Christians to support these communities through various means.
In spring 2025, a delegation of French bishops, accompanied by representatives of major Catholic charitable associations, visited the Holy Land to show solidarity with local Christian communities weakened by recent crises and conflicts. During his first appearance on the balcony of St. Peter's, the first words of Pope Leo XIV were wishes of peace. The peace that comes from the risen Christ, "a disarmed and disarming peace, humble and persevering." French bishops and leaders of main French Catholic solidarity movements engaged in the Holy Land also wished to be ambassadors of this peace of the Risen One and meet peacemakers in Israel and Palestine during the Easter Octave, from April 21 to 26, 2025. They aimed to listen to and support the lives of inhabitants of this war-torn land. They visited Christian religious communities, health facilities, schools, parishes, the cities of Ramallah, Hebron, Jerusalem, Taybeh, and Bethlehem, families of hostages, human rights associations, and civil and religious authorities. They echoed what they saw and heard to make a strong appeal for justice and peace to return to the Holy Land. They encountered people in immense suffering, with no visible hope, in a state of deep shock. All suffer, and each side remains deaf to the other's pain. The situation significantly worsened after the terrible terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023, nullifying the possibility of dialogue. A silent and blind violence descended on this Land. The West Bank suffers from Israeli occupation. In Gaza, disproportionate military force against civilians and places of life like hospitals or schools, as well as homes, creates a humanitarian drama. Hostages also live in inhumane conditions. This crisis of unprecedented tension and intensity plunges entire sections of the population into great economic and social difficulty. Their short-term survival is threatened. It is a cry of distress rising from this Land. It is urgent for all hostages to be freed, bombings and destruction to stop, and humanitarian aid to reach Gaza. Nothing justifies such blind violence, and no hope for conflict resolution will be possible as long as it endures. They call for unconditional respect for human dignity and equal rights. No peace, no society, and no state can stand without justice. Today, the law of the strongest applies without outlining any future solution until the rights of inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza are respected. Respect for different religious traditions is an essential prerequisite for coexistence, the sole truly respectful path for cultures and peoples. Christians are called to remain faithful to their unfailing bond with the people of the covenant and fraternity with Palestinians. At the heart of their mission, they were deeply impressed by the faith and courage of families, religious people, priests, and their unconditional and unlimited commitment to young people, the sick, people with disabilities, and the excluded in educational, hospital, and social institutions. These Christian communities are essential bridges in this divided country and provide valuable support to sustain entire sections of society. In a political situation that seems at an impasse, the theological virtue of Hope remains the main support and reason for these Christians to stay. But they also ask not to be forgotten, to be supported more than ever through prayer, human and financial support. They need presence and visits to remain humanly, spiritually, and economically. They are only 200,000, mostly Palestinian, amidst a total population of 14 million. Their future in the Holy Land is increasingly compromised daily. They call upon all Christians in France to support the Latin and Eastern Christian communities in the Holy Land through the resumption of visits and pilgrimages, sending volunteers, and financial support through existing associations. Let us be signs of Hope for them as they are for us today.
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