Archb. Pizzaballa: ‘mercy is the language we Christians have to talk’

(Vatican Radio) Following the closure of the Jubilee of Mercy, the Holy Doors in Jerusalem and Nazareth will be closed respectively on December 3 and 9, during Solemn Masses in the Church of All Nations and the Basilica of the Annunciation. 

The masses will be presided by Patriarchal Vicars Bishop William Shomali in Jerusalem, Bishop Giacinto Marcuzzo in Nazareth and by Fr. Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land.

The Apostolic Administrator of Jerusalem, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa spoke to Linda Bordoni of the meaning of the event in the Holy Land.

Listen: 

Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa points out that the Holy Door will also be closed in Anjara in Jordan that together with Getsemane and Nazareth are the three most significant Holy places in the Holy Land.

“The meaning is the same as it is all over the world: first of all to close the Jubilee Year but also to remind the community that the commitment to mercy for us Christians isn’t over, but must continue, especially here in the Holy Land where divisions and hatred are so evinent – mercy is the language that we Christians have to talk” he said.

Pizzaballa says that the Holy Year of Mercy has not had any visible effects at the macro level of politics and high level decisions, but he says at a ground level “with the people, in the communities, in the schools we have seen many initiatives of encounter and dialogue between Israelis, Palestinians, Jews, Christians and Muslims.”