Meeting the Roman Archbishop of Jerusalem

We met Archbishop Fouad Twal, Co-Adjutor, Latin Patriarchate, in his ornate audience chamber in the Old City section of Jerusalem. The Archbishop was kind, and though he was somewhat circumspect, he told a story of life for the Arabs in Israel that incensed some of our party.

Originally a Jordanian, the Archbishop decried the Israeli military checkpoints, and arbitrary denial of permits for transit through them. He told stories of how many of the Catholic Priests, in his own Diocese, were denied permission to travel from Bethlehem to his installation ceremony in Jerusalem. He doubted that they were terrorists, but, of course, the Israeli officials gave no reason for the denials, only that "there must be some good reason." The Archbishop contrasted the powerful (Israel) with the weak (the Palestinians), and, though he acknowledged that terrorist bombings were never acceptable, his perspective suggested that might did not necessarily equate to right in this troubled land. By the end, one of our group felt he had been overly anti-Israeli in his viewpoint, and only joined the group photo with the Archbishop under mild duress from that member's fellow travelers.