We encounter news from the Holy Land every day now. From an Israeli Press Conference we hear one account, “She was kidnaped from her bed in her pajamas with other girls. Other girls were murdered and she was taken hostage.” From a Palestinian Press Conference we hear, “My mother, my sisters, my brothers and their children have been all killed in one instant. That is not easy, 13 lives, that is not a statistic, they are people who I lived with and I had memories with everyone of them.”   

Pope Francis met Palestinian and Israeli families in the Vatican, and after listening to their suffering, he expressed his sorrow.    

The Pope emphasized, “Here, we have gone beyond wars; this is not waging war; this is terrorism. Please, let us move forward for peace, pray for peace, pray fervently for peace.”   

Pope Francis’ prayer resonates with Father Ibrahim, who is a member of the Franciscan Order of the Friars Minor. They have been working in Jerusalem for over 800 years, preserving and studying the places of Christian heritage.    

After his meeting with Pope Francis, Father Ibrahim shared about the situation of his religious brothers and the Christian minority in the Holy Land during these days of terror. Father told us, “When the war started on October 7th, we were at the beginning of the school year, with all Muslim and Christian children, reciting the prayer of St. Francis, ‘Make me an instrument of your peace.’ We saw the missiles arriving, and we understood that something out of the ordinary was happening, something that could not be normal.”  

The situation of Christians in the Holy Land has been difficult for centuries and not easy recently, but with the beginning of this aggression and terror, the situation has become even more alarming.   

Father Ibrahim explained the situation of the holy sites of pilgrimage in the Holy Land, “If I talk about the Christians in Bethlehem, the majority of Christians in the Holy Land are in the Bethlehem area, and they are also going through a very difficult time. Everyone works in the tourism sector, which is now blocked. Everyone is unemployed. After two years without work due to the pandemic. And these days, Bethlehem, which was supposed to be full of tourists and pilgrims, everyone has canceled. There is no one; Bethlehem is without pilgrims, dead, a ghost town.”   

Not is it just a question of pilgrims, but also of Christians who call the Holy Land their home. Father Ibrahim continued, “The Christians in Jerusalem. Everyone is desperate. I am very concerned about the presence of Christians in the Holy Land, but also for the Church because if all the Christians leave, the holy places become mere museums. Without Christians, they would lose their significance. It’s a concern for everyone. The Church is worried.”  

But despite the difficult situation, hope has not been lost.    

The response and the desire of all is expressed in the following words of Father Ibrahim, “We tried to organize prayer initiatives, Muslims and Christians. We did it twice, even with the presence of the Custodian, the presence of the Patriarch, Cardinal Pier Battista; Even the children… the drawings they made, the phrases they wrote all about peace, everyone wants peace. No one spoke of hatred, no one spoke of revenge. No one spoke of war; everyone spoke of peace.” 

The faithful in Jerusalem are afraid, but they have not abandoned prayer.  

They have turned to prayer, Father Ibrahim explained, “Before October 7th, not so many people came to the church, to the Mass, but now really a lot come to Mass, many. People need to pray, and whenever there is a crisis, when there is, people need to be close to God.”    

But, Father Ibrahim urges the need for a peaceful resolution, “Israeli children are not well. The Israeli people are not well; they have paid a high price. 1,400 people were killed in a single day, on October 7th, and many more were injured, with numerous deaths continuing until now. They are also not living well. The Palestinians are not living well either. They must find a solution, enough with seventy years of hatred, revenge, blood, and victims, enough. We need to live in peace.” 

This article was edited by Jacob Stein.