Pope: Custody of Holy Land ‘a mission of peace and dialogue amid conflict’

By Pope Francis  

Safeguarding is the first task the Lord entrusts to man upon His creation. In the Holy Land, the land of Jesus, there has existed for centuries the Custody of the Holy Land, whose head has received no simple responsibilities: managing numerous shrines that trace the life of Jesus and welcoming over half a million pilgrims each year.

Coordinating the work of many friars located in eight different countries (Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Cyprus, and Rhodes), these friars, coming from various nations, uphold the Custody’s defining feature: its international character. It is a precious good, a microcosm representing the universality of the Church, but it requires constant effort to harmonize diverse cultures and traditions.

This internationality can serve as a laboratory for what Western Churches will become in the future, as a result of significant migratory movements. Moreover, it involves not only a vibrant devotional practice in the shrines but also dynamic pastoral activities. For instance, the four largest parishes of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem—Nazareth, Bethlehem, Jaffa, and Jerusalem—are run by the friars of the Custody. Additionally, there are 16 schools that are crucial for fostering a culture of peace and dialogue among different ethnicities and religions.

Ecumenical and interfaith dialogue, which in the Holy Land transcends theological controversies to enter the everyday lives of many, requires extraordinary openness, hospitality, and sensitivity. The complex management of the Swiss-watch-like Status Quo is essential for the orderly presence of various confessions. Yet, more than anything else, the tragic conflict that has afflicted the Holy Land for the past 76 years stands out.

In short, great work and heavy responsibility rest on the shoulders of the Franciscan friars and their Custos. A responsibility that, as recounted at the beginning of this book, Father Francesco Patton found himself shouldering quite suddenly and unexpectedly, yet he has managed it effectively. For this, we can only be grateful to him, because, as they say, Jerusalem belongs to no one, yet it is for everyone.

Father Francesco has carried out these challenging tasks with a unique style that attentive readers will be able to appreciate in this book. With patience, humility, and a capacity for listening, but also with decisiveness and firmness when the dramatic events of that land have required it.

Father Patton's mandate has been marked by extraordinary and terrible occurrences that will be remembered over time. The heavy years of the pandemic, and then from October 7, the terrible war that the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, has correctly defined as “the longest and the gravest” among the many, far too many, that have afflicted the Holy Land and the Middle East.

In these dramatic circumstances, Father Francesco has managed to keep the course of the boat entrusted to him steady and to increase his efforts to stand in solidarity with the peoples affected by these tragedies. I vividly recall the most beautiful initiative that, together with his vicar, Father Ibrahim Faltas, was carried out during these months of atrocious war in Gaza: the transfer to Italy of 150 injured and sick children.

This book, which—I'm pleased to highlight—arose from the collaboration of two ecclesiastical bodies that effectively express, through their internationality, the universality of the Church: the Custody and L'Osservatore Romano, will help to further introduce Father Patton.

I remember his style from our first meeting, when I jokingly told him, “From your surname, I thought you were a Yankee friar and ... instead, you're from Triveneto!” To this Yankee father from Trentino, my wish, which is customary among the Franciscans, is “May the Lord grant peace,” to him and especially to the Holy Land and all those who guard it.