Senior Catholic cleric: 'If Jews want respect, they must respect others'
In the wake of the 'price tag' vandalism at the
Latrun monastery, Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa cautions Israelis over
how Christians are treated in Israel.


Sep.07, 2012
2:04 AM

Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa was a signatory on this week’s church condemnation of the vandalism at the Latrun monastery.
Photo by Emil Salman

this story is by
Nir Hasson

The "price tag" vandalism this week of the monastery at Latrun, in which the
culprits sprayed the building's facade with the words "Jesus is a
monkey" and set the front door alight, prompted a fierce statement of
condemnation signed by Catholic church leaders here. One of the
statement's senior signatories, who holds the title of custos (Latin for
guardian ) of holy sites on behalf of the Vatican, is a Franciscan
priest of Italian origin named Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa. Prior to
the church's statement, which questioned what was going on in Israeli
society that would prompt such an act, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
denounced the vandalism, calling it "a criminal act" and that "those
responsible for it must be severely punished."


In a rare interview to the Israeli media just a month before he steps
down from his current post, Pizzaballa cautioned Israelis over how
Christians are treated here. "When you say 'Christianity' to the
Israelis," he said, "they immediately think of the Holocaust and the
[Spanish] Inquisition. People don't know that we are here and that we
have roots [here]," adding that this attitude is reflected throughout
Israeli society.


In a reference to the long-standing, continual incidents of Orthodox
Jewish extremists in Jerusalem spitting at Christian clergy, Pizzaballa
said: "When I came to the country, I was told that I should know that if
I walk around with a frock in the city [of Jerusalem], people would
spit on me, and I shouldn't be offended, it's normal."


No matter how high his position, any priest who makes his way around
the city will sooner or later be spat upon and cursed by a yeshiva
student, he added.


Pizzaballa, who has been living in Israel for 22 years, is the head of
the Franciscan order in the Middle East. As custos, he is one of the
senior figures in the Catholic Church and has custody of most of the
Christian holy sites in the country, including Jerusalem's Church of the
Holy Sepulcher, which Christians regard as the site of Jesus'
crucifixion and resurrection, and Bethelem's Church of the Nativity.
After more than two decades here, he said he knows the areas of
Jerusalem where he is at risk of being spat upon, including the area of
Jaffa Gate and the Armenian Quarter.


This week's vandalism at the Latrun monastery is the latest in a recent
streak of attacks on Christian institutions. In February, following
incidents in Jerusalem, Pizzaballa wrote to President Shimon Peres that
in recent years, he and his colleagues had learned to ignore
provocations, but that now they were escalating to the point that they
had become intolerable.


Following his letter to Peres, however, anti-Christian animosity even
surfaced in the Knesset, after Christian bibles were sent to parliament
members and National Union MK Michael Ben Ari ripped a copy of the New
Testament in front of the camera. "It was shocking," said Pizzaballa.
"If you as a Jew want people to respect you, you need to respect others.
There are billions of Christians for whom this book is holy."


He also took exception to what he said was the weak response by the
political system and the public at large to Ben Ari's act, saying it was
limited to statements that Ben Ari didn't need to do what he did. "It's
a lack of sensitivity," said the cleric. "Such a serious thing occurs
and no one does anything. In practice, it negates our existence here."


The power of the custos to influence the political system here is
limited, however. "All of the heads of the [Christian] denominations
approached the Knesset speaker [Reuven Rivlin] in protest. Our
communities are asking why we don't do something, but what can we do
other than write a letter?" And a week before the vandalism at the
Latrun monastery, after the Franciscans established a residence on
Jerusalem's Mount of Olives, it was attacked by a large group of young
Muslims.


Pizzaballa doesn't expect the Christian presence in Jerusalem to
disappear, however. "I am not that pessimistic. We are a minority within
a minority and we always remain a small minority, but I don't think we
will disappear completely, as happened in North Africa or Turkey,
because ultimately this is the Holy Land. There are holy places. There's
a presence. The Christian establishment, for all of its weakness, will
remain. The question is the type of Christian population and its
nature."


Pizzaballa has required that his monks who come to live here learn
either Hebrew or Arabic. "Most Israelis don't know a thing about the
Christian presence in the country. Both we and the Israeli public are to
blame for this. We need to talk more," he said.


Pizzaballa is preoccupied currently with the situation in Syria and
visited the country many times over the years, most recently about six
months ago, but since then the Syrians have barred entry by him and many
other foreigners. He said there is great uncertainty over the fate of
Christians there although they have not been targeted as Christians by
the violence.


Referring to his church's desire to regain rights to the traditional
site of the Last Supper on Mount Zion, which it lost 500 years ago and
which sits on top of the traditional tomb of King David, Pizzaballa said
he is not seeking a change in the status quo. "But Jerusalem teaches us
to you can't take any decision alone," he added. "You need the other
[party]. That's the difficulty and the beauty of Jerusalem."