The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, is in Britain for a happy event – the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre in England and Wales – but there’s no getting away from the bleakness of the situation back in Jerusalem.
In a press conference in Eccleston Square, he reflected: “I have been 35 years in Jerusalem and this is the worst period I’ve ever lived in."
I have met the Cardinal in Jerusalem a couple of times when it seemed that tensions between Jewish settlers and Palestinian Christians – and Christians generally – were running high, but “this time is different. It’s a turning point in relations between Israelis and Palestinians, politically, religiously, socially".
