Pizzaballa in Assisi: Holy Land Christians are tired; they want peace

In Assisi for the Pope's pastoral visit on 6 August and for the inauguration of the Global House of Friendship and Hope, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, spoke with journalists about the upcoming Israeli elections on 27 October.

"Everyone is looking to the elections as though they will solve all the problems. In reality, however, the problems of the Middle East are the kind that will require a great deal of time. We need new faces, new leaders. The voters will decide that."

Speaking to Vatican Media, the Cardinal described the situation in Jerusalem as one of "great tension." Although, he noted, "we are not in a state of war with indiscriminate bombardments, violence has become the general lens through which relationships are experienced in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and Palestine."Like everyone else, Christians are deeply weary of this endless back-and-forth-of announcements that are then contradicted by events. It has become part of daily life. Unfortunately, this has created an ever-growing sense of distrust among the population, to the point that people no longer believe anything, even when it turns out to be true. And when something genuinely positive does happen, people struggle to believe it because they are no longer accustomed to seeing good news. It is, in short, a very heavy situation.Yes, hope remains, because there are so many people who continue to put themselves on the line in Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel. I constantly meet young people, but also older men and women - professors and others who have something to lose in terms of their relationships - yet they still choose to get involved, to build encounters, to defend others. There are still antibodies within that society that prevent the whole body from being overcome by this virus of violence.