The Catholic Church in the Holy Land Welcomes His Eminence Claudio Cardinal Gugerotti
Pastoral Visit of the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches 16 – 21 November 2026
JERUSALEM, November 15th, 2026 – The Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land, together with the clergy, the religious and the faithful of all our Churches, Latin and Eastern, welcomes with deep gratitude His Eminence Claudio Cardinal Gugerotti, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, the office of the Holy See entrusted with the care of the Eastern Catholic Churches and of the Catholic faithful of this region. Cardinal Gugerotti will undertake a pastoral visit to the local Church in Israel and in Palestine from 16 to 21 November 2026. He comes among us as a pilgrim to the Holy Places and as the envoy of the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, bearing his closeness and his blessing.
The Cardinal Prefect will visit our communities in the West Bank and will call at Bethlehem University and the Pontifical Institute Effetà, where the Church continues, through the education of the new generations, to serve all without distinction. In Upper Galilee, he will bring a message of support and encouragement to our parishes. He will meet the bishops, priests, religious and lay faithful, and will celebrate the Holy Eucharist at the Basilicas of the Annunciation, the Nativity and the Holy Sepulchre, where the mystery of our salvation was announced, took flesh and was fulfilled. He will also pay fraternal visits to His Beatitude Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, and His Beatitude Nourhan Manougian, Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, in the shared desire that the Christians of this land continue to bear witness together.
Through this visit, the Universal Church draws near once again to the Church of Jerusalem, to listen to it and to encourage it at a time of difficulty for the Christian presence in the Holy Land. In this spirit, we recall the appeal made by the Holy Father on 14 May 2025, during his audience with the participants in the Jubilee of the Eastern Churches, that the Christians of the Middle East “be given the opportunity, and not just in words, to remain in their native lands with all the rights needed for a secure existence”.
We pray that these days may confirm in faith and in hope our priests and religious, who serve with great fidelity in often demanding conditions; our families, who choose, day after day, to remain; and our young people, who need to know that the Church stands beside them as they seek to build a future here.
We invite the faithful to accompany His Eminence with their prayer, and we ask the Lord to grant to the Holy Land, which continues to face many challenges, the gift of His peace.
+ Pierbattista Cardinal Pizzaballa
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
President of the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land
For media enquiries:
Farid Jubran, Spokesperson and Public & Governmental Affairs Advisor, Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
Tel. 054-9909905 | E-mail: [email protected]
