Jerusalem cardinal offers himself in exchange for Israeli hostages

19 Oct 2023

By Contributor

By Justin McLellan

Jerusalem Cardinal Hostage Release
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, speaks with residents as he visits the Jenin refugee camp, in Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank 10 July 2023, days after the Israel Defense Forces launched air and ground attacks on the camp. Photo: OSV News/courtesy Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

The Catholic Church’s highest-ranking prelate in the Holy Land offered his “absolute availability” to be exchanged for Israeli children taken hostage by Hamas.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, told reporters during an online meeting on Tuesday 16 October that he is willing to do “anything” to “bring to freedom and bring home the children” taken into Gaza during Hamas’ on 7 October attack on Israel, in which more than 1,300 Israelis were killed.

The Israeli military said on 16 October that some 200 people, including children and elderly persons, are being held hostage.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, gestures during a press conference in the Old City of Jerusalem 21 September, 2023. Cardinal Pizzaballa’s recent offer to exchange himself for the children held hostage in the Gaza Strip by Hamas is a testament to his extraordinary leadership and unwavering commitment to peace. Photo: OSV News/Debbie Hill.

Returning the hostages held in Gaza is “absolutely necessary” to stopping the ongoing violence between Israel and Hamas, the Cardinal said. He expressed the Vatican’s willingness to assist in de-escalation and mediation efforts but said they had not been able to speak with Hamas.

Cardinal Pizzaballa said some 1,000 Christians in Gaza are currently sheltering in church-affiliated buildings because “they don’t know where to go and moving is dangerous.”

While Christians concentrated in northern Gaza were told to leave the area by the Israeli military, “practically all have chosen to stay there because it is safer for them to stay, since the situation is even more delicate elsewhere.” The cardinal said none of the Christians sheltering in Gaza have been killed, though some have suffered light wounds.

“Moving is dangerous because many die in transfers,” and “possible places of refuge are already overflowing; there is no place to go,” he said.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, greets people after celebrating Easter Mass in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem’s Old City, 9 April, 2023. He was one of 21 new cardinals Pope Francis appointed on 9 July. Photo: OSV News/Ammar Awad, Reuters.

The Cardinal said that some 500 Christians are sheltering at a Latin-rite church, some 400 are in a Greek Orthodox church and approximately 300 are at a YMCA.

“Supplies are beginning to run short,” he said. “We try, through our contacts, to make as many physical supplies as possible reach (them), provisions such as medicine, water, even generators.”

Cardinal Pizzaballa said the Catholic Church, in coordination with humanitarian agencies, is “trying to insist” that a humanitarian corridor can be opened into Gaza to allow basic necessities to be brought in.

After praying the Angelus on 15 October, Pope Francis publicly called for humanitarian law to be respected “especially in Gaza, where it is urgent and necessary to ensure humanitarian corridors and to come to the aid of the entire population.”

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, gestures during a press conference in the Old City of Jerusalem, 21 September, 2023, ahead of his elevation to the rank of cardinal during the consistory at the Vatican on 30 September. Photo: OSV News/Debbie Hill.