The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem has renewed calls for a two-state solution as the “only” way for Israel and Palestine to have a home.
Speaking on the sidelines of the recent Rimini meeting, headlined by Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Pierbttista Pizzaballa highlighted the outstanding concerns from the Holy Land. For the Italian cardinal, after three decades spent in Israel, the future was clear.
“The two-state solution, Israel and Palestine, is the only way to recognise the right of Israelis and Palestinians to have a home on their land,” he told the news portal of the Church in Italy, AgenSir.
Questioned about the Latin Patriarchate’s relationship with the Israeli government, Pizzaballa admitted that “we do not always get along on both sides,” but added that “it is a correct, loyal and calm relationship at this time”.
The cardinal has been consistent in making such calls for a two-state solution. However, he is less certain about the possibility of its actual implementation.
Interviewed by Colm Flynn in October 2024, Pizzaballa commented that the two-state solution “is not realistic now”. Touching on the topic a year later, the cardinal repeated that the two-state solution “remains the ideal solution for me, but it seems less and less real.”
Notwithstanding the issues involved in implementing it, Pizzaballa remains convicted of the solution as “something that must be worked toward.”
“It is important to keep the spotlight on the situation in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and many other parts of the world alive,” he commented to AgenSir.
“We have been in limbo for so long,” he lamented, “it has now become a sort of status quo for us to be in limbo. We are perpetually waiting for something to break the deadlock.”
He urged that what was necessary now were “actions that inspire confidence – not a resumption of war, but concrete steps on the ground that restore confidence among the population, which I believe is now one of the main victims of this war.”
In this assessment of the demise of hope for the future of both nations, Pizzaballa echoes that of other religious leaders in the wider region. The Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad Paul III noted recently that Iraqi youth “have lost hope in the future, in their land, in their homeland, and, in a sense, in almost everything.”
Pizzaballa has been Latin Patriarch since 2020, having been based in Israel since 1990. His assessment of the region is widely respected, as is his leadership – something demonstrated by the fact he was made Custos of the Holy Land for three consecutive terms prior to being consecrated as bishop.
The cardinal has previously opined that for peace to be affected in the area, there needs to be “new leadership with vision” in both the political and religious arenas.
Since the October 7, 2023 attacks he has walked a careful line, not backing any one party or nation but calling out abuses regardless of their origin. “It is important to emphasise and repeat that our mission is not for a specific group, but for all,” he stated last summer. In particular Pizzaballa has highlighted the plight of those living Gaza and the destruction wreaked upon them, including the Christian community which has itself come under Israeli attack.
Following a strike on Gaza’s parish church last summer, Pizzaballa visited the parish with Greek Orthodox Patriarchate Theophilos III, after which he delivered a joint press conference. “It is time to end this nonsense, end the war and put the common good of people as the top priority,” the cardinal urged.
He also warned about empty peace promises, admonishing political leaders not to “turn peace into a slogan, while war remains the daily bread of the poor.”
Michael Haynes is an English journalist in the Holy See Press Corps. He serves as Vatican Correspondent for the Catholic Herald, while readers can follow him at Per Mariam and on X @MLJHaynes.
