by Daoud Kuttab

The Jordanian people in general, and Christian Jordnians in particular, welcome the presence of Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Vatican, as a papal envoy on his behalf to inaugurate the Baptism Church in Jordan. His visit coincides with the arrival via the King Hussein Bridge of Monsignor Iyad Twal, who was appointed by His Holiness Pope Francis, on December 17, as Auxiliary Bishop of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and Patriarchal Vicar for Latins in Jordan.

On this double occasion, it is necessary to conduct an objective and honest inventory of what the Church, headed by Pope Francis, has done for our region, including the Pope’s continuous demands for a ceasefire in Gaza and his almost daily communication with the Latin priest in Gaza to check on the parish and the situation in Gaza. It is important to point out the symbolic significance by His Holiness the Pope in the installation of the symbol of the national struggle – the keffiyeh – within a scene in the Vatican for the story of Christmas in Palestinian Bethlehem.

With the visit of the Secretary of State of the Vatican, it is necessary to commend the many tangible achievements of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which witnessed development in management, pastoral visits and daily follow-up on the issues of the Latin Patriarchatge of Jerusalem.

Perhaps the most important act that expressed the courage of the Catholic Church was the visit of Patriarch Pizzaballa to the Gaza Strip in the midst of the Israeli war on Gaza which had a direct impact as the parish considered it a “boost in their morale” and support for them, their cause and their steadfastness.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, visited Gaza on May 16, 2024 and arrived at the Holy Family Parish on a pastoral visit. He was accompanied by Fr. Gabriele Romanelli, the parish priest of Gaza, and a small delegation where they met with the suffering residents to encourage them and deliver a message of hope, solidarity and support. His Beatitude presided over the Mass in Gaza’s parish church with the local community. During his stay, His Beatitude paid a courtesy visit to the Orthodox Parish of Saint Porphyrius. The Patriarch has made dozens of pastoral visits, including extended stays in rarely visited locations in Palestine and Jordan, meeting with everyone, listening to them, and providing psychological, moral, and sometimes financial assistance and support.

It is also necessary to point out the unlimited support for many educational, health, housing, and legal activities in Jordan, Palestine, and Cyprus. Patriarch Pizzaballa has established an efficent administrative system that includes digitizing and automating many activities and methods of communication with the public and with all pastors in the various dioceses within the responsibility of the Patriarchate.

In a remarkable development, the Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem issued an important decision that opened the way for all lawyers to litigate in the Latin Church courts. The decision came after a year of dialogues, some of which came within legal courses in Tiberias, Beit Jala, and the Dead Sea (the Jordanian side), and was based on recommendations in which senior judges in the Latin courts in Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Amman participated. The decision of His Beatitude the Patriarch included the cancellation of the condition that litigating lawyers be Catholic or even Christian. The instructions also included replacing the requirement of a doctorate in law with the necessity of participating in a number of legal workshops, with no less than three training courses.

Cardinal Pizzaballa also supported church jurists in Amman and Jerusalem to continue and develop the regional canon law conference, where he participated in the last meeting of the 11th Annual Canon Law Conference, from July 21 to 28, at a Dead Sea Hotel. The opening session of the session was attended by the Dean of the Roman Rota (the Vatican’s Supreme Court of Appeal), Archbishop Alejandro Cedillo, and a number of members of the Roman Court. The Patriarch’s success featured the presence of dozens of judges, lawyers of ecclesiastical courts, psychological counselors and doctors participating in the work of these courts in all the countries of the Middle East, from Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine and Galilee. The legal conference,, headed by Father Emile Salaita, President of the ecclesiastical court in Jerusalem, has become an annual event awaited by experts from all over the Middle East.

In an important development, towards transparency in dealing with the parish, Cardinal, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, opened the door for electronic appointments through the Latin Patriarchate website for anyone who wishes to meet the Patriarch of Jerusalem through the link in which the Patriarch stated that he is ready to meet any of the parishioners during his presence in these places.

It is also noteworthy that the main page of the lpj.org website includes professional news reports in five languages: Arabic, English, French, Italian, and Spanish.

We list these matters and all of them and others that we have published on the milhilard.org website during the past years, and they are tangible achievements that express the Church’s genuine interest in its parish and the local community. On the Latin Patriarch’s site also are multiple statements issued by the Patriarchs of Jerusalem affirming Palestinian right and supporting the Hashemite custodianship of the Christian and Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, condemning the attacks on clerics and Christian sites by Jewish extremists, in addition to statements rejecting Israeli crimes in Gaza and the rest of Palestine.

However, despite our objective and professional reporting on these matters, we have been missing an important element in our press coverage, namely comments from the church. We received no comments on all positive developments and some that maybe consider negative, but which are of particular interest to the Christian community and the Arab community in general.

The Patriarchate boycotted us after we published reports documented by an American court on the case of the American University in Madaba, which has gone through and continues to go through a difficult situation.

The Patriarchate itself admitted, in a press release, that there were financial losses exceeding one hundred million dollars, which forced the Patriarchate to sell church lands in Nazareth. There are also concerns about the sale of Salesian lands in Bethlehem and other places to pay off the debts of people who have not yet been held accountable. The Patriarchate has not issued any statement on what has happened and is happening regarding the university, despite Pope Francis’ repeated calls for transparency and frankness with the people.

The silence in engaging the Arab media also included the issue of the transfer of the Patriarchal Vicar in Jordan, Bishop Jamal Daibes, to Africa, which attracted the attention of many followers of Christian affairs. No information was made about the reasons that led to the decision and the refusal of the Patriarchate to comment on the issue. More than a thousand people in Palestine, Jordan and the diaspora signed a call to the Vatican to retract the decision under the title: “The sons of the Church of Jerusalem are the best to serve it.” The people were also angry regarding ​the meeting in West Jerusalem with the Israeli President, who rejected the presence of any civilians in Gaza. The parish was also kept from knowing the financial and moral ​p​roblems occurring locally and among one of the priests affiliated with the Patriarchate abroad.

The decision to appoint a respected figure as Bishop of Jordan was also a source of annoyance to some despite the competence of the new father, Iyad Twal ,and the praise for him (as we published Milhilard.org). The appointment was made without applying the consultative principle (consulta) known in all Catholic dioceses in the world, as more senior and competent fathers were bypassed, which caused resentment among some in the Patriarchate due to the lack of transparency. Even more senior Vatican ambassadors were denied making any statements to the Arab press. Patriarch Pizzabella has given exclusive interviews on numerous occasions to the Israeli, Italian and other foreign press but not to the Arab press and only to Catholic local media while press releases and reports are issued regularly leaving the media with no choice to seek comments or make journalistic interventions.

Cardinal Parolin

We have presented to you the positives and some negatives of the work of the Patriarchate, and we are confident that the positives outweigh some of the negatives. However, our honest professional work requires that we present all of these matters with justice and honesty, hoping that the positives will continue and some of the negatives will be addressed, which will undoubtedly raise the status of the Patriarchate, even if it is with some pain. Internal accountability is important, and even pain is necessary for complete healing. We wish to present our friendly welcome to you, we congratulate you on your blessed mission in inaugurating the Church of the Baptism in the eastern part of the blessed Jordan River.