With hugs and gifts, the apostolic
administrator Pierbattista Pizzaballa was
officially welcomed by the main religious
authority of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem.
“Welcome home!”
With hugs and greetings, Mons. Pierbattista Pizzaballa was welcomed in the new role of Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem by the heads of the main Orthodox Christian Churches of the Holy Land during the official greetings.
“It seems to me that I never left the city…” the new bishop tells the Armenian Patriarch Nourhan Manougian: they hope to work together for the common good and for the protection of the Christian people.
Many small gestures performed during the morning of Thursday, October 20, showed that they are the common roots in the same faith in Jesus Christ, the rock on which to build, and on which to be united.
For example, the Syriac bishop Tues Swerios Malki Murad gave Mons. Pizzaballa the ‘Our Father’ Prayer printed on a lambskin, and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch gave him two crosses.
Mons. Pizzaballa and Patriarch have a relationship of friendship and mutual respect that goes on for years, culminating in the presence of an envoy to the episcopal ordination of the former Custos of the Holy Land. Both have expressed their desire to continue to work together.
Later, the apostolic administrator paid a visit to the Ethiopian Patriarchate, accompanied by a small delegation formed by the Bishop Emeritus Kamal Bathish and the Chancellor of the Latin Patriarchate, George Ayoub..
“We must show solidarity and communion among Christians – Mons. Pizzaballa said – confident that together we will be able to build and walk.”