Why the Italian who leads the church in Jerusalem is a candidate to be pope

In the days after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, offered himself as a hostage in exchange for the freedom of kidnapped Israeli children.

The offer, Reported by Vatican NewsThe news portal of the Holy chair was not admitted, but it still drawn attention to Cardinal Pizzaballa, who is a competition to succeed Pope Francis.

As Italian, Cardinal Pizza Balla would reduce the papacy under control over a country that dominated it for centuries, after a gorge of almost 50 years. His long experience in a politically loaded region that is the birthplace of three major religions – he became in 1990, at the age of 25, and moved to Jerusalem that year – also stimulated his papal capital.

But Cardinal Pizza Balla is seen as a Vatican outsider, given that he has spent for decades in the middle, instead of building alliances closer to home.

Some cardinals and other members of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church are also concerned that Cardinal Pizzaballa, 60, are too young for the job. Pope John Paul II was chosen at the age of 58 and served 26. The prospect of another papacy that lasts a quarter of a century or more has given a break to some cardinals who will choose the next pope.

The reverence of Cardinal Pizza Balla for traditional elements of ecclesiastical practice has made him tasty for some conservatives. But after having spent decades in the middle, he is something of a wildcard, because his positions about many issues that caused division in the church are not known.

What he does, his experts from Vatican agree, is a personal touch as a church leader who appreciates Pope Francis.

“He embodies a pastoral approach,” said Massimo Faggioli, a professor in theology at Villanova University. “In Jerusalem you treat other religions that have strong opinions about these issues, so you should not become a crusader in a possible sentence of the word.”

Cardinal Pizzaballa “comes from a pragmatic Catholic culture,” Mr. Faggioli added. “He is not going to wage a cultural war about sex and gender-related issues.”

The cardinal refused to comment on this article.

Cardinal Pizza Balla is credited with agile navigating by the politics and communities of the Middle East, speaking strongly against injustice and hatred, but also making friends between Jews, Muslims, Christians and other communities. Above all, he developed a reputation as someone who wants to listen.

People who have worked closely with him in Jerusalem described him as a capable manager and a modest leader with little time for pump.

“He takes care of the poor,” said Wadie Abunassar, the coordinator of the Forum of Holy Land Christians, a non -governmental group of Christian Laity in Israel. “He helps in a discreet way. He is a person who likes to build bridges with every person.”

When Hamas attacked Israel in 2023, the cardinal was only in his new role for a few days, but he had spent 35 years in the region. A Franciscan arranged in Northern Italy, he became a student of Biblical theology in Jerusalem and eventually taught Bibles Hebrew. In addition to his native Italian and Hebrew, he speaks English only limited Arabic.

His assets with languages ​​and agile diplomacy was put into use when he took care of the Hebrew speaking Catholics of Israel and paid almost monthly visits to parishes. He also visited the little Christian community in Gaza during the war there and has an open dialogue with Jewish Israelis.

Hana Bendcowsky, project director of the Jewish-Christian program of the Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue, an inter-religious organization based in Jerusalem, praised his work and said she hoped that he would not be Pope but not for another decade. “We still need him here,” she said.

Xavier Abu Eid, a Palestinian political scientist and author based in Ramallah on the occupied West Bank, said that many Palestinians believe that the Cardinal should have expressed more powerful to the actions of Israel in Gaza, but added that there were how much could be expected from a church leader.

Francis expressed himself when Palestinian victims came up in Gaza and wrote in a book released in November that the war must be investigated To determine whether it was a genocide. This attracted a hard reprimand from a member of the Israeli government.

In April the cardinal traveled to Rome to talk to Francis to organize a meeting between him and rabbis who worried about the language he had used, according to Oded Wiener, a former director-general of the most important Rabbane of Israel who was responsible for Interfaith reliefs and the Rabbinaat’s relationships.

A date was set for the meeting, but it did not happen, first for technical reasons and then because of the decline of the health of Francis, Mr. Wiener said. It was not clear to what extent the cardinal personally sympathized with the concerns of the rabbis.

In Francis’ Final addressDelivered on the day before he died, the pope said that the growing climate of anti -Semitism around the world was ‘worrying’, and he also denounced the ‘regrettable humanitarian situation’ of Gaza at the Kazant.

Patrick Kingsley has contributed to reporting from Jerusalem, and Emma Bubola Van Rome.