Today at 8:30 in the morning, a radical Jew entered the Church of the Flagellation, which is the first stop on the Via Dolorosa, in the Old City of Jerusalem. The man tore down the statue of Jesus and defaced the face of the statue. After he was immobilised by the shrine’s door keeper, the police arrived and arrested him.
This is the fifth incident that has occurred in recent weeks. Just last week, some tourists were attacked by a group of religious Jews who entered the New Gate. They committed acts of vandalism at the New Gate, near the headquarters of the Custody of the Holy Land, throwing chairs, tables and glasses and transforming the Christian quarter into a battlefield.
About two weeks ago, a Christian cemetery in Jerusalem was vandalized. Also "Death to Christians" graffiti was written on the walls of a monastery in the Armenian quarter and premises used as a church in the Maronite center of Ma'alot were vandalized.
We follow with concern and strongly condemn this growing succession of serious acts of hatred and violence against the Christian community in Israel. It is no coincidence that the legitimization of discrimination and violence in public opinion and in the current Israeli political environment also translates into acts of hatred and violence against the Christian community.
We expect and demand that the Israeli government and law enforcement agencies act decisively to guarantee security for all communities, to guarantee the protection of religious minorities and to eradicate religious fanaticism. We specifically refer to these serious incidents of intolerance, crimes of hatred, and vandalism directed against Christians in Israel.
Fr. Francesco PATTON, OFM, Custos of the Holy Land
Fr. Alberto Joan PARI, OFM, Secretary of the Holy Land
To Br Francesco Patton, OFM
Custos of the Holy Land
and to all the brothers of the Custody
Rondihna (Brazil), 2 February 2023
Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple
Dear Brother Francis, Custos, and dear brothers of the Custody of the Holy Land,
May the Lord give you peace!
I write to you on the day of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, on which we give thanks to our heavenly Father for the gift of the vocation to follow in the footsteps of his obedient and poor and chaste Son, the Prince of Peace.
I am following the evolving situation in Israel and Palestine and the sign of violence that struck our House of Flagellation this night.
I am well aware that living in that blessed land is very demanding and especially at such times the difficulties are felt more.
Therefore, I wish to express my closeness, that of the entire Order, and my daily prayers for you, for the peoples who inhabit the Holy Land, for those who suffer from violence, and also for those who raise their hand to strike others.
I entrust to the Lord the victims, the families affected and all of you, dear brothers, who renew your yes to remain in that land, as the brothers have done for eight centuries now.
May the Lord keep you in the missionary response to our vocation, in that meekness and fortitude necessary to continue to remain in the Holy Places, to intercede for all and to promote the precious gift of peace.
May the Seraphic Blessing be a consolation and light to you.
Fraternally your brother and servant
Br Massimo FUSARELLI, ofm
General Minister
Prot. MG 20/2023
