Neo-Church Hierarchy Begs for Worldly Alms While Abandoning Supernatural Mission in Holy Land
The EWTN News portal (ACI MENA Arabic service) reports that the “Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem,” headed by the “Cardinal” Pierbattista Pizzaballa, has issued an appeal titled “Hope Demands Action,” warning that the Christian presence in the Holy Land faces a critical demographic collapse. The article cites a 54% unemployment rate among “Christian communities” — double the national average — and notes that only 541 Christians remain in the Gaza Strip. The “Patriarchate” calls for a transition from emergency relief to investment in education, vocational training, and “special projects” to give families “practical reasons to remain.” The piece frames the potential disappearance of Christians as a “crisis in history, identity, and faith,” while highlighting a back-to-school initiative to cover basic educational expenses. This appeal is a manifesto of naturalistic humanitarianism that reduces the Church’s divine mission to a socio-economic NGO operation, utterly silent on the Social Kingship of Christ, the necessity of the Catholic Faith for salvation, and the duty to convert the Muslim and Jewish populations to the one true Church.