Pizzaballa Attacks ‘Christian Zionism’

Religious leaders in Jerusalem condemned “Christian Zionism” as an example of “damaging ideologies” that “mislead the public, sow confusion, and harm the unity of our flock” in a letter released January 17. Prominent anti-Semitic influencers used the statement on social media to attack Christians who support Israel.

• The letter came in response to the Israeli government inviting 150 American evangelical journalists and 1,000 pastors to conferences in Jerusalem from Dec. 3-7, 2025—the largest group of American Christian leaders to visit Israel since its founding.
• The Catholic Church hated it and issued this letter in conjunction with the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Lutheran and Episcopalian churches.
• The most prominent cleric in this group is Catholic Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem.

Pizzaballa and these church leaders see Christian support for Jewish life in the Holy Land as a repellent to Christian unity. The letter reads:

The patriarchs and heads of churches in the Holy Land affirm before the faithful and before the world that the flock of Christ in this land is entrusted to the apostolic churches, which have borne their sacred ministry across centuries with steadfast devotion. … The patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem reiterate that they alone represent the churches and their flock in matters pertaining to Christian religious, communal and pastoral life in the Holy Land.

In other words: If you don’t believe in Catholic teaching, you have no right to call yourself a Christian and operate in the Holy Land. These Catholic and Catholic-derived religious leaders assert that centuries of “devotion” make them the sole Christian authorities in Israel.

In truth, those centuries have entailed Catholics warring against, killing and executing Muslims, Jews and other Christians.

• As Terry Jones and Alan Ereira write in Crusades, Jerusalem was open to visitors just before the arrival of the Crusaders in the First Crusade. With “the triumph of the Latin Christians, however, things were going to change. They had come to rid Jerusalem of all other religions and to make it a purely Christian city—and, what’s more, Christian in their terms.”
• Encyclopedia Britannica states that Arnulf of Chocques, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem (Pizzaballa’s predecessor), “forced all local Christians to conform with the Latin rite.”

This January 17 letter was written in the same spirit.

Anyone who bases his beliefs on something other than the Bible and simultaneously claims to be the sole authority on Christian religious matters is practicing the same religion that led to the Crusades and the Inquisition, including the torture and killing of those who disagree.

The Bible reveals that we will again enter such an era of religious assertiveness and bloodshed. Read “The Last Crusade” in Gerald Flurry’s The Eternal Has Chosen Jerusalem.