Church and Israel

The Central Bureau of Statistics published on Christmas Eve 2022 the data on the Christian population in Israel. About 185,000 Christians live in Israel, making up 1.9% of the total population. The Christian population grew by 2.0% in 2021.

At Wednesday's audience reception, the Pope recalled the victims of "Operation Reinhard", in which about 1.7 million Jews were deported and murdered by the Nazis. He referred to the day of remembrance held by the "Heschel Center", at the Catholic University of Lublin.

Pope Francis received a delegation from the Beit Midrash for Rabbis in Latin America, located in Argentina, which shared a proposal for social change through the training of leaders.

Pope Francis addressed a delegation of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), saying the shared religious heritage of Jews and Christians should be an incentive to act together for fraternity and peace in a broken world.

On November 8th, the Center for the Study of Conversion and Interreligious Encounters (CSoC) at Ben Gurion University of the Negev granted to three laureates the Ladislaus Laszt Ecumenical and Social Concern Award of 2022, to honor their commitment in interreligious dialogue.

A plaque honoring the seventeen Righteous Among the Nations was placed at the entrance to the André Melraux library in Paris. The mayor of the 6th district, the chairman of the French Committee of Yad Vashem, dignitaries, religious figures, relatives, friends of the Righteous Among the Nations, and residents of the district were present.

The Abraham J. Heschel Center for Catholic-Jewish Relations - a new scientific, educational, and cultural unit to deepen Catholic-Jewish relations internationally - began its activities at the Catholic University of Lublin on Monday, October 17th. Scientific research, publishing activities, student exchanges, as well as international symposia, conferences, debates and cultural events are the main tasks of the institution.

A special service to mark the eighth centenary anniversary of the Synod of Oxford aims to encourage Christians to reject contemporary forms of anti-Judaism and antisemitism.

Condolences and prayer

Cardinal Leonardo Sandri met the President of the State of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, in the President's house, then the met the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah

Cardinal Leonardo Sandri met the President of the State of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, in the President's house, then the met the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah

Twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the State of Israel.

The Ben Gurion Airport Authorities decided to open separate places of prayer for the travelers from the three monotheistic religions. Read the article  written by our friend Yiska Harani, expert on Christianity (the article is in Hebrew)

We publish a Hebrew translation of a statement  issued  by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem concerning new Israeli Nation-State Law

We publish here a short report on the congress that took place on December 5, 2017 at the Land of Israel Museum in Ramat Aviv and which included a section on the children hidden in monasteries during the Shoah.

On December 6, 2017, Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople received an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

On Friday, December 1, 2017, a short documentary was screened on Israeli television, "Here is the News”, about Father Romuald Jakub Weksler-Waszkinel.

On October 2, 2017, a statement by Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi condemning the September 20 vandalism incident at St. Stephen's Church in Beit Jemal was published:

Over 50 Christian and Muslim sites have been vandalized in Israel and the West Bank since 2009, but only nine indictments have been filed and only seven convictions handed down, according to Public Security Ministry data.