In this year of significant religious anniversaries, the 800 years since St Francis sent the first friars to the Holy Land does not register alongside the Reformation or Fatima. Yet that decision continues to shape the Christian presence at our holiest sites.
The local Churches in the Holy Land are not in strong shape. The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the largest of the Christian Churches, has long been dogged by both internal factionalism and occasional scandal. The Latin Patriarchate – the Roman Catholic diocese – is stronger due to the international support it receives from the Pontifical Mission for Palestine and the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre.
Yet last year when the Latin Patriarch, Fouad Twal, retired, the Holy See judged that there was no suitable local candidate for the diocese. Pope Francis left the patriarchate vacant and turned to the Franciscans to provide an archbishop administrator, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the recently retired Custos of the Holy Land.
