Pierbattista Pizzaballa

Pierbattista Pizzaballa (born 21 April 1965) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who has been the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem since 6 November 2020. A Franciscan friar, he served as Custos of the Holy Land from 2004 to 2016, Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate from 2016 to 2020, and was made a cardinal by Pope Francis on 30 September 2023.

Biography
Pierbattista Pizzaballa was born in Cologno al Serio, Bergamo, son of Pietro and Maria Maddalena Tadini. He entered the Franciscan minor seminary in Bologna in September 1976 and on 5 September 1984 entered their novitiate in La Verna. He made his first vows there on 7 September 1985 and his perpetual vows in Bologna on 4 October 1989. He earned his bachelor's degree in theology at the Pontifical University Antonianum and was ordained a priest on 15 September 1990, in the Cathedral of Bologna by Cardinal Giacomo Biffi.

He obtained his diploma in classical studies at the Archiepiscopal Seminary of Ferrara. He studied in Biblical Theology at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem in 1993 and then taught biblical Hebrew at the Franciscan Faculty of Biblical Science and Archeology in Jerusalem.

Besides his native Italian, Pizzaballa speaks Hebrew and English.

Presbyterate
After completing his postgraduate studies, Pizzaballa taught Biblical Hebrew at the Franciscan Faculty of Biblical and archaeological sciences in Jerusalem, was responsible for the publication of the Roman Missal in Hebrew in 1995, and translated liturgical texts in Hebrew.

He joined the Franciscans working at the Custody of the Holy Land in July 1999 and was responsible for the pastoral care of Hebrew-speaking Catholics. On 9 May 2001, he was appointed Superior of the Convent of Saints Simeon and Anna in Jerusalem. From 2005 to 2008 he served as Patriarchal Vicar.

He was Custos of the Holy Land, that is, head of the Franciscan priory known as the Custody of the Holy Land, from May 2004 to April 2016, having been elected to a six-year term in May 2004, re-elected to a three-year term in March 2010, and reconfirmed for another three-year term in 2013.

In 2008 he was appointed a Consultor in the commission for relations with Judaism of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

In June 2014 Pope Francis entrusted Pizzaballa with organizing the peace prayer in the Vatican gardens, which brought together Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

Pizzaballa criticized Israel's construction of a barrier between the West Bank and Jerusalem and participated in protests against it in 2015. He also, before becoming a bishop, criticized Palestinian leaders for blaming all problems on the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.

Episcopate
On 24 June 2016, Pope Francis nominated Pizzaballa as Apostolic Administrator sede vacante of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and appointed him titular archbishop of Verbe. On 10 September 2016 he was consecrated by Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Archbishop Fouad Twal, and Bishop Francesco Beschi in the Bergamo Cathedral. The appointment of an Italian broke with tradition, as such posts are normally assigned to members of the ethnic group they predominantly serve, such as his immediate predecessors (a Palestinian and Jordanian respectively).

In 2016, Pizzaballa joined the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and became its Pro Grand Prior, and then Grand Prior upon appointment as Latin Patriarch. On 31 May 2017 he was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

On 24 October 2020, Pizzaballa was appointed Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem by Pope Francis. He leads the Board of Directors of Caritas Jerusalem.

Cardinal
On 9 July 2023, Pope Francis announced he planned to create him a cardinal at a consistory scheduled for 30 September 2023. At that consistory, he was made cardinal priest of Sant'Onofrio, the official church of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.

On 16 October 2023, he condemned Hamas' actions as barbaric and offered himself as a hostage in exchange for captive Israeli children held in Gaza during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war.

Pizzaballa has advocated for an end to the 2023 Israel–Hamas War and the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Pizzaballa was a signatory to the "Statement on the Escalating Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza" which condemned attacks on civilians, called for de-escalation and called for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. His statement was criticized by Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen.

On his visit to Bethlehem on Christmas Eve 2023, Pizzaballa donned a Palestinian keffiyeh and expressed a desire for peace in the region. He cosigned the Christmas message released by the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem advocating Christians to refrain from public celebration of the holiday in solidarity with those affected by the war.

Honors and recognition

 * Holy See: Grand Prior and Knight of the Collar of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre
 * Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Conventual Chaplain Grand Cross ad honorem
 * 🇮🇹 Italy: Grand Officer of the Order of the Star of Italy
 * Supreme Taxiarch of the Greek Orthodox Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre