Territory: The Holy Land (Israel and the Palestinian Territories)

Population (% Catholic): 9.7 million (2023 estimate); fewer than one percent Catholic

Threats: This year has seen an uptick in attacks on Christians and Christian sites throughout the Holy Land as interfaith tensions continue.

“The spiral of death that increases day after day does nothing other than close the few glimpses of trust that exist between the two peoples,” said Pope Francis in January, referring specifically to Jews and Muslims, Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) News reported.

“As we have all seen in recent months, escalating violence has engulfed the Holy Land,” wrote the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches, a group of local Christian leaders, just prior to Holy Week. “Local Christians, in particular, have increasingly suffered adversities similar to the ones about which St. Peter wrote,” OSV News reported.

“The Patriarchs and Church leaders noted in their statement that over the past year some churches, funeral processions, and other Christian places of public gathering have become targets of attacks, and some holy sites and cemeteries have been desecrated.

“This includes vandalizing a statue of Jesus at the Franciscan Church of Flagellation in the Old City on February 2, as well as what was called “a violent incident” at the Tomb of Mary church in annexed east Jerusalem on March 19.

“Church leaders also noted that ancient liturgies, such as the Palm Sunday procession and the Orthodox Holy Fire Ceremony, have been closed off to pilgrims. The Holy Fire ceremony takes place on Orthodox Holy Saturday when thousands of local Orthodox Christians and Orthodox pilgrims celebrate the proposed miracle of fire at the Tomb of Jesus in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and which Israeli police see as a fire hazard because there is only one entrance into the church,” OSV News reported.

An OSV News report from this week documented aggression towards a reporter of Haaretz, Israel’s longest-publishing newspaper, who had dressed as a priest and walked around Jerusalem to gauge reaction. 

“Haaretz underlined that at a time when attacks on Christians in Jerusalem are rapidly increasing, police are reluctant to track down the perpetrators.

“[Israeli television] Channel 13’s Yossi Eli was first spat at just five minutes after setting out in the company of a Franciscan clergyman, who is identified by the paper as Father Alberto. Spitting incidents included one by a child and a soldier, as the reporter spent a day dressed as a priest in Jerusalem to investigate growing hate crimes against Christians in the city. Haaretz also reported that a man mocked them in Hebrew, saying, ‘Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.’

“On June 15, a stained-glass window of the Cenacle, the traditional location of the Last Supper, was shattered by a rock thrown by unknown vandals.

“It is one of many incidents of violence on Christian holy sites in Jerusalem that have increased in frequency and have practically become a daily occurrence, said the organizer of a June 16 conference, aimed at investigating these attacks from a religious, historical, legal, and current events perspective.

“Spitting on Christian clergy has become a common issue in the Holy Land and inspired the title of the conference, “Why Do (Some) Jews Spit on Gentiles,” which sparked controversy among Jews,” OSV News reported.

— OSV News contributed to this report.