Christmas message of Latin Patriarch

At the press conference, the Patriarch read his traditional message and in it he related to the many important topics that are linked to the life of the Church in the Holy Land.

Among the topics mentioned were:
- Interreligious dialogue
- Ecumenical relations with the other Churches
- "The Arab Spring"
- The demand of the Palestinian Authority to join the United Nations
- Relations with the Diaspora – with those Arab Christians who have migrated
- Pastoral work with the migrants – workers and asylum seekers – in Israel
- Important forthcoming meetings

Due to the importance of His Beatitude's comments on the pastoral for migrants for the Saint James Vicariate, we reproduce the full text of what he said:

"Today, we face a new reality in the Church, the presence of migrant workers and refugees. In Israel alone, there are around 230,000 foreign workers and approximately 30,000 asylum seekers, the vast majority are Christian. They live mostly in Hebrew-speaking Jewish society. In fact, the Hebrew-speaking Vicariate is facing a great challenge to meet the pastoral needs of Catholic immigrants. We must redouble our pastoral efforts to provide religious services and to ensure their integration into the local church."

To read the message here