The Bishops' Conference of Scotland

📜HOLY LAND COORDINATION 2025: FINAL COMMUNIQUÉ

✍️Our visit to Jerusalem and the West Bank has concluded with the issuing of the annual Holy Land Coordination Communiqué. The statement for 2025 addresses the announcement of a ceasefire, the impact of both the war and the ongoing occupation on Palestinians in the West Bank, and highlights the invaluable contributions that the Christian communities make to the fields of healthcare and education. It is signed by bishops from the UK, Germany, Spain, USA, and Iceland, including by Archbishop Nolan. Some excerpts from the statement are quoted below followed by a link to read the full text.

💬"We came to the Holy Land, this Jubilee Year, as pilgrims of hope. We came in hope that a fragile ceasefire agreement, announced as we travelled here, would hold. We came looking forward to those, in both Israel and Palestine, who have suffered the atrocities of violence and war, being able to rebuild their shattered lives, to mourn the loss of their loved ones, to come together again as families and to start on the long, uncertain road to recovery..."

💬"The impact of war on the whole West Bank is rarely reported at home. We have
been privileged to listen first-hand to several communities of Christians in the West Bank. To them we wish to say:
'Thank you for the most generous welcome you extended towards us; for helping us understand the extraordinary efforts being made in the fields of healthcare and education to preserve the dignity of all those living in the West Bank. Your communities are a light in the darkness of a suffering Land. We were moved to hear how often Christians expressed their commitment to stay and rebuild the lives of their people...'".

🔗Read the Holy Land Coordination 2025 Final Communiqué in full here: www.theholyland.org.uk/final-communique-of-the-holy-land-co-ordination-18-23-january-2025/

‘A lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.’ 2 Peter 1:19 We came to the Holy Land, this Jubilee Year, as pilgrims of hope. We came in hope that a fragile ceasefire agreement, announced as we travelled here, would hold. We came looking forward ...

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-francis-de-sales/


Saint Francis de Sales was born into a senatorial family where he was destined to work in government positions of authority. Instead, he felt a call to the priesthood and was ordained for the Diocese of Geneva.

https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-middle-east/2025/01/pope-francis-speaks-to-catholics-in-gaza-parish-after-ceasefire


Pope Francis said the people who have been trapped in a parish in Gaza had a decent meal for the first time in a long time, after a ceasefire was established between Israel and Hamas.