«Hope Should Not Be Confused with a Solution»: ZENIT’s Interview with Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, discusses the difference between hope and a concrete solution in the context of the Holy Land. He reflects on his 30+ years in the Middle East, highlighting religious, social, and political realities that shape Catholic life there. The interview covers his role as an Italian Franciscan and his recent elevation to cardinal by Pope Francis in 2023. Pizzaballa emphasizes the importance of principled action and dialogue amid regional tensions. He outlines future initiatives aimed at fostering peace and cooperation among faith communities.
3 months ago
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, reflected on his recent visit to France, the spiritual significance of Jerusalem, the practical difficulties of shepherding a diocese that spans four countries, and his hopes for coexistence and an upcoming ecumenical gathering in 2033. 1
During a six‑day trip to France, the Cardinal received the insignia of Knight of the Legion of Honor, which he said symbolised recognition of the whole Holy‑Land Church and the French Catholic institutions that support it. He met French political leaders—including the President, the Foreign Minister, and members of the Senate—and noted their keen interest in the situation of Christians in the Holy Land. 1
Pizzaballa linked the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus with Jerusalem, describing Calvary as the ultimate act of self‑giving love and forgiveness. He emphasized that the Sacred Heart points to a “life given out of love,” offering a model for responding to the hatred and conflict that pervade the region. 1
He warned that it is easy to speak of love when circumstances are favorable, but the Christian community must bear witness in the midst of turmoil. Although the Catholic presence in the Holy Land is small, he argued that remaining there demonstrates an alternative way of living amid conflict. 1
The Patriarch described the logistical challenges of overseeing a diocese that covers Jordan, Israel, Palestine, and Cyprus. Travel restrictions affect believers on all sides—Palestinians cannot enter Israel, Jordanians face barriers, and Israelis cannot cross into Palestine—making pastoral visits demanding. He stresses the need to present these hardships before God while staying true to his mission. 1
In a recent Holy‑Week pastoral letter, Pizzaballa portrayed Jerusalem as a city with walls but open gates, urging Christians to remain open to others. He contrasted the earthly Jerusalem with the heavenly one, where “there is no Temple, no Church, and the presence of God is a lamp,” and highlighted the River of Life and the Tree of Life as symbols of healing for nations. 1
The Cardinal cautioned against confusing hope with a definitive solution, noting that a peace agreement appears imminent but pilgrimages remain suspended. He finds hope in young people rejecting hate speech and believes the next generation will rebuild what has been destroyed. He also welcomed Pope Leo XIV’s announcement of a major ecumenical meeting in Jerusalem slated for 2033, viewing the city as the birthplace of the Church and a symbol of unity. 1*
Explore Catholic principles guiding hope versus action in the Holy Land
Catholic teaching does not oppose hope to action—it orders them. In the Holy Land, where violence can tempt both despair and activism without a soul, the Church presents hope as a theological virtue that remains reliable precisely when outcomes are uncertain, while action is required as the “setting” where hope becomes living charity.
In Catholic doctrine, hope is a supernatural gift—not mere confidence that conditions will improve. The Catechism defines hope as the virtue by which we desire heaven and eternal life, placing trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength but on the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Pope Francis’ catechesis makes the psychological and spiritual stakes plain: when hope is missing, even other virtues risk collapsing, life can seem pointless, and virtue can begin to look like ashes. Hope answers the question, “What will become of me? … What is the destiny of the world?”—and that destiny is not finally controlled by present suffering.
In the Holy Land context, Pope Francis explicitly thanks Catholics for “your ability to hope against all hope,” and he frames Easter hope as the heart of faith that shines even when Good Friday seems to overshadow the land’s present.
Principle: Because hope is God-centered, it prevents despair; because it is virtue (not denial of reality), it also prevents “hope” from becoming a fantasy that ignores wounds.
Sources relied on: CCC 1817; Pope Francis catechesis on hope; Pope Francis Letter to Catholics of the Holy Land (Holy Week 2024).
A common false choice is: either (a) “hope” means passivity, or (b) “action” means self-salvation by human effort. Pope Benedict XVI rejects both. In Spe Salvi, he teaches that our conduct is not indifferent before God and therefore not indifferent for history: we can open ourselves and the world to truth, love, and the good; we can free life and the world from poisons and contaminations that destroy the present and future.
Yet Benedict simultaneously warns that human effort needs illumination from “the great hope” grounded in God’s promises. Without that radiance, daily efforts can tire us or turn into fanaticism. Conversely, if hope were limited to what can be achieved at a given moment—or promised by political authorities—life would soon lose hope.
Benedict states the key synthesis:
“All serious and upright human conduct is hope in action.”
But he adds an equally important boundary:
“We cannot ‘build’ the Kingdom of God by our own efforts—what we build will always be the kingdom of man with all the limitations…” and Heaven cannot be “merited.”
So Catholic hope is neither a substitute for effort nor a permission to cease effort. It is the motive power and direction for effort, especially when outcomes are blocked.
Applied to the Holy Land, this means: prayer and charity are not “less real” than diplomacy or humanitarian relief; rather, they are the deepest way the Church ensures that action remains ordered to peace, human dignity, and reconciliation. Pope Francis explicitly links solidarity to both prayer and practical charity.
Sources relied on: Spe Salvi (notably the section on action and suffering as settings for learning hope); Pope Francis Holy Week letter; Pope Francis catechesis on hope.
Catholic hope is meant to be lived “hand-in-hand” with patience. In Pope Francis’ catechesis, patience walks hand-in-hand with hope, providing a steady path forward and protecting against nostalgia, melancholy, or discouragement.
Pope Francis’ Holy Land letter then translates that spiritual law into concrete moral aims. He prays that the Lord “set human hearts free from hatred, violence and the spirit of revenge,” and he asks that the faithful never lose hope of rising anew with Christ. Hope therefore has an ethical content: it produces peacemaking (in the Beatitudes’ sense), mercy, meekness, humility of heart, and a relentless defense of dignity.
Importantly, this defense of dignity is not tribal. Francis asks for defending dignity “without distinction of religion, ethnicity or nationality,” beginning with the most vulnerable: women, the elderly, children, and the poor.
John Paul II earlier makes a similar moral claim in political form: the peoples of the Holy Land should not accept fatalism; Israelis and Palestinians are called to live together peacefully, and that requires fundamental rights guaranteed for everyone, including rights “to live in their own homes in dignity and security.”
Principle: Hope does not merely calm the heart; it stabilizes the heart so that action does not become retaliation. True Christian action in conflict is measured by fidelity to mercy and justice for all persons.
Sources relied on: Pope Francis (Holy Week letter); Pope Francis catechesis on hope; Pope John Paul II message to the bishops in the Holy Land.
The Church’s social doctrine ties hope directly to public moral energy. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church teaches that Christian hope “lends great energy to commitment in the social field,” because it generates confidence in building a better world—even though there will never be “a paradise of earth.”
The Compendium also insists that hope should not remain hidden: Christians should express it through continual conversion and perseverance in spiritual struggle, “wrestling” against darkness (Eph 6:12).
This matters in the Holy Land because Catholics are not told to retreat into private piety. They are urged to manifest hope through sustained charity, and also through practical engagement with the conditions of peace.
That engagement can include pilgrimage and “prayerful presence” (seen in the Church’s outreach to the suffering local Church), while also supporting concrete relief and justice efforts. The 2008 communiqué from a coordination of episcopal conferences highlights that the bishops’ first task was prayerful presence and encouragement, but it also underscores solidarity with local Catholics and the search for a just peace amid complex social and political realities.
Moreover, Catholic hope tends toward structures of peace, not only feelings of consolation. Pope Leo XIV, speaking in 2026 to the diplomatic corps, emphasizes that in the Holy Land there is a humanitarian crisis and that the Holy See is attentive to initiatives for “lasting peace and justice,” while reaffirming the two-State solution as the institutional perspective for legitimate aspirations and noting violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.
Principle: Hope produces commitment—but commitment that remains under the light of Christ’s promise, not trapped in short-term calculations or ideologies.
Sources relied on: Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church 579; Spe Salvi; Pope Leo XIV address (9 January 2026); 2008 communiqué from the episcopal coordination in support of the Church in the Holy Land.
In Catholic thought, hope is not merely “personal emotion”; it is linked to communion and unity.
Pope Francis prays that in the “crucible of suffering” the “precious gold of unity” be purified and shine forth “among yourselves and with our brothers and sisters of other Christian confessions.”
Pope Leo XIV, in a 2025 address to participants in synodal teams, also prays for the Middle East as a place needing “signs of hope,” connecting them to being “true promoters of pardon and reconciliation,” and indicating that such reconciliation can build unity among peoples.
Finally, hope expressed in action includes tangible support for the living Church in the Holy Places. The Dicastery for the Eastern Churches describes the Holy Land communities as “a small, defenceless flock” that must be helped so that they can remain present, with homes, schools, and pastoral initiatives—while warning against fragmentation of charity into competing “parallel collections.”
Principle: In the Holy Land, hope must become ecclesial and communal—through reconciliation, unity, and sustained material solidarity—so that suffering does not dissolve the community that witnesses to Christ.
Sources relied on: Pope Francis Holy Week letter; Pope Leo XIV (2025); Dicastery for the Eastern Churches appeal (2025).
Catholic principles guiding hope versus action in the Holy Land can be summarized this way: hope is a God-given virtue grounded in Christ’s promises and the Holy Spirit; action is not optional, but must be enlightened and sustained by that hope. When hope is alive, it protects action from fanaticism and from revenge, and it converts suffering into patience, charity, unity, and a credible pursuit of peace and justice for all persons.