He arrived at Bari to pray for peace asking for the intercession of Saint Nicholas, but “it will take time”. The Latin patriarch of Jerusalemthe cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballayesterday took part in the celebrations linked to the feast of Saint Nicholas.
Cardinal, you chose to come to Bari on the occasion of the celebrations of Saint Nicholas, a saint venerated throughout the world. What significance does this visit of yours have today in light of what is happening in the world?
«Saint Nicholas is a much loved saint in all the churches of the East and West but especially in the East. And Bari is a city open to the East while Saint Nicholas is the figure of unity, especially in this moment of great division which affects the entire Christian East including the Holy Land. In these moments it is difficult to talk about hope but for us believers hope is founded on faith, so we must certainly work for this and in this difficult moment where it seems that everything speaks of hatred and divisions the signs are important, such as the signs of unity and meetings can provide a small light in this very difficult and complex context. And it is precisely from Bari that a strong message must be sent to the world which must know, with a sense of realism, that this is not the time to build and erect barriers, I certainly realize that this is not at all easy, but we must not confuse peace with victory. In the Middle East, talking about peace at the moment makes no sense, it would be out of reality. Today we need to talk about a ceasefire, about a cessation of hostilities. To achieve peace it will take a long time, the wounds will need to be healed, there is a lot of work to be done. But the first thing to do today, for the word peace to be credible, is to stop hostilities. In Gaza, we have a small Catholic Christian community, that of the Holy Family, which is made up of around 500 people and 200 Orthodox ones who, as we know, are linked to each other. The situation remains very fragile. We managed to get some food but there is a lack of medicines and water and due to the very serious hygienic situation hepatitis is spreading.”
In Bari, these days, we are celebrating Saint Nicholas, a saint who unites Catholics and Orthodox even if Russia and Ukraine are at war. What is the message that can go from here to those territories?
«The situation in the Orthodox world, unfortunately, is a clear fact, it is very fragile and divided. It is a very painful situation of division. San Nicola represents an oasis in this sense because it is much loved by all the oriental churches, for this reason San Nicola and Bari can represent a neutral place where all the churches can feel at home”.
Is it conceivable, as happened in Ukraine, a direct and official intervention by the Church in the Middle East?
«They are two completely different situations. The Church’s task is not to mediate. The task of the Church today is to create spaces for mediation.”
So, in concrete terms, what role can and should the Church and the Custody in particular play?
«The Custody is the Church and its task is to help, facilitate, create opportunities, so that negotiations can be facilitated by having a widespread presence in the territory. The Church is present in this panorama but it is not up to the Church to mediate because it is too complex a situation that involves dynamics that go beyond the Church’s tasks.”
So is it necessary to focus everything on dialogue?
«Certainly, at this moment East and West need to be united»
The mediation being worked on in Egypt seems to be fading away, will it be possible to reach a ceasefire?
«In the Middle East the logic of out-out never applies but always of at-at, nothing is ever as it appears and therefore we must always be very cautious in immediate conclusions. However, negotiations are certainly uphill.”
Your Middle East, the land in which you have lived and worked for many years, is currently dripping with blood, despite the repeated appeals for peace made by the Pope, what is the situation?
«It is truly dramatic, there is violence never seen with this type of intensity in recent decades and with long-term consequences in the relations between Israelis and Palestinians such as a feeling of hatred»
Even in the east of the world the situation is not very different with the Russian-Ukrainian context bloodied by the war?
«Yes, of course, as Pope Francis has said several times, we are living in a period of the Third World War in pieces and these pieces are becoming bigger and bigger and more and more united and connected. We need the international community to work towards the cessation of these conflicts.”
Why does the pontiff decide to participate in the G7?
«I believe that today it is clearer than ever that the economy, politics, the world of the media alone do not help to create unity and to have a complete vision of man’s life, I believe that the need, also, of a spiritual gaze. The G7 is an important context where the most important countries on the planet dialogue with each other on various topics. Personally I believe that it is important that politicians, economists and the various people responsible for the various areas of public life also listen to a spiritual vision and discourse. Because one thing is clear today, and that is that a large part of these conflicts also have a religious connotation. We must not forget, then, that Pope Francis is a charismatic spiritual leader and his voice is an important voice.”
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED – SEPA
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Read the full article at
Puglia Newspaper
