JERUSALEM – Visiting with Christian communities in northern Israel and the northern Palestinian Territories has helped bishops participating in the annual Holy Land Coordination see "the great need" to promote an understanding between Israelis and Palestinians, said Bishop Noel Treanor of Down and Connor, Ireland.

VATICAN – The 30,000 members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem fund about 80 percent of the annual budget of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, ensuring that Catholic parishes and seminaries, schools and hospitals in Israel, Palestine and Jordan continue to function, said U.S. Cardinal Edwin F. O'Brien.

JERUSALEM – The controversial Israeli Nation State law must be repealed because non-Jews also are citizens of Israel, said the Catholic ordinaries of the Holy Land.

JERUSALEM – Already in a precarious state, Gaza's health system faces a medical emergency, with more than 1,000 people injured in the recent Gaza border demonstrations that flared up since March 30.

With at least 60 killed and over 2,700 injured, Canadian Catholics can’t just shrug and say the violence on the Israel-Gaza border is not their problem.

VATICAN – Warning that violence will never bring peace, Pope Francis urged all sides to do all they can to foster dialogue in the Middle East.

JERUSALEM – As the world witnesses "another outburst of hatred and violence, which is once again bleeding all over the Holy Land," the head of Jerusalem's Latin Patriarchate called for prayers for peace.

JERUSALEM – As the new United States embassy was inaugurated in Jerusalem May 14, violence broke out between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers.

Pope Paul V was a controversial leader in turbulent times. His biography cites a fondness for luxury, penchant for nepotism and persecution of Galileo, but also lauds his completion of St. Peter’s Basilica, contributions to education and the arts, encouragement of New World missionaries and the canonization St. Charles Borromeo.

JERUSALEM – Christian leaders in the Holy Land reopened the Church of the Holy Sepulcher Feb. 28 after the Israeli government set up a negotiating team to resolve a municipal dispute over property taxes.

JERUSALEM – Protesting several recent actions they described as a "systematic campaign ... against the churches and the Christian community in the Holy Land," the heads of Christian churches announced Feb. 25 they were closing of the doors of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for an undisclosed period of time.

JERUSALEM – The heads and patriarchs of Christian churches in Jerusalem strongly denounced the city of Jerusalem's plan to force churches to pay property taxes.

JERUSALEM – The U.S. suspension of $65 million in aid to the U.N. agency that deals with Palestinian refugees alarmed advocates who work with Palestinians living in camps.

QUBEIBEH, West Bank – The entrance into this small Palestinian village encircled by the Israeli security barrier and settlements is through a series of bleak and darkened underpasses.

OTTAWA – As the new year dawns, the prospect of a peaceful future for Christians in the Middle East seems as remote as ever.