AsiaNews.it, Italy
Nov 19 2004
Call to Christians: Pilgrims, come to the Holy Land
Representatives of all Churches: “The West, driven by secularism, is
forgetting Christians”.
Jerusalem (AsiaNews) — “A call to all people of faith: Visit the
Holy Land”. This is the title of a document signed by
representatives of different Christian denominations in Jerusalem
this week, to encourage Christians around the world to resume visits
to the Holy Sites.
On Monday, November 13, the Custodian of the Holy Land, Father
Pierbattista Pizzaballa, papal representative Archbishop Pietro
Sambi, and representatives of the Greek and Russian Orthodox,
Armenian and Protestant Churches signed a joint statement urging
Christians of the world to visit the Holy Land and, thus, contribute
to preventing the exodus of Christians from these areas. It is the
first time that Christians jointly sign a document of this kind.
“There are many things that divide Christians, but there are many
more that unite us. The Holy Land is one of these,” Fr. Pizzaballa
said, echoing Pope John XXIII’s famous phrase.
Archbishop Sambi referred to pilgrimages to the Holy Sites as times
of “joy and spiritual enrichment”, saying that they offer both
spiritual and material encouragement to the small Christian
communities there. Many Christian Palestinians in fact make a living
thanks to religious tourism to the Holy Sites. Furthermore, pilgrims
can create “an atmosphere of peace” that can contribute to “defusing
the ever-tense political situation between Israelis and
Palestinians.”
The document bemoans the flight of Christians from the Holy Land.
Today they make up only 1.6% of the population. “Along with the
Christian exodus the Christian vision of man regarding the respect
for the human person and human life is also disappearing, in a region
in which these values are in open decline”, the document states. It
also laments the inaction of “governments of the Christian West”,
which, “driven by a false vision of religious freedom and perhaps by
an exacerbated secularism,” forget to help Christians and come to the
aid of Palestinians for merely ideological and political motives.
Speaking in support of the document, Israel’s Minister of Tourism,
Gideon Ezra, provided figures on the decline of Christian pilgrimages
to the Holy Land. This decline has been the result of security
problems related to the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.
In 2000, Christians made up 60% of the 2.6 million tourists in
Israel. In 2004, the percentage fell to 29. (LF)