Cardinal Pizzaballa on the Roman Rite: “What the Church Says, We Have to Apply”
His flock includes about 190,000 Christians in Israel, 45,000 in the West Bank, and 500 in Gaza.
Palestinian Christians in the West Bank, including Bethlehem, have been severely affected by the Gaza war, as tourism has nearly collapsed and work permits to Israel have been suspended. “This created a very problematic situation from the economic point of view,” the Cardinal said.
The conflict has also intensified tensions between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank, including settler attacks on Christian Palestinian communities. Cardinal Pizzaballa described the situation as “chaotic and very problematic,” adding: “What is scary for the people is that you don’t know how, when this will finish.”
Despite this, he sees the U.S.-brokered ceasefire as “the only path we have.”
“We don’t have alternatives. So we have to follow it,” he said. “Because going back to war is worse.”
Asked about claims that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, Cardinal Pizzaballa neither adopted nor dismissed the term. “For us, it’s more or less clear what happened there,” he said, “but we need evidence and we must follow the process to evaluate the facts in their real context.”
And: “There is no peace without justice and no justice without forgiveness.”
Cardinal Pizzaballa rejected appeals to Sacred Scripture to justify modern Israeli state policies based on God’s covenant with the Jewish people before Christ, a thesis common among some American Protestants. “I do not like this confusion between religion and politics,” he said, stressing that criticism of the Israeli government must remain “distinct from our relations with the Jewish people.”
Echoing Pope Leo XIV’s support for a two-state solution, Cardinal Pizzaballa said peace requires recognizing Palestinians as a people with a right to their own land and self-determination, though he expressed little confidence in current leadership on either side.
Turning to Church matters, he dismissed the German Synodal Way as irrelevant to Christians in the Holy Land. “These are topics that periodically come up. As they come, they go,” he said.
On disputes over the liturgy, including the Roman Rite, he noted that multiple liturgical traditions coexist in the Holy Land. Ultimately, he emphasized obedience: “The liturgy is not a private possession. It’s where the Church expresses itself. What the Church says, we have to apply.”
Speaking of Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Pizzaballa described him as “a very peaceful person” with “clear ideas,” adding that he is “very free,” which he said is essential for the papacy.
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