Pope Francis appoints new auxiliary bishop for Jordan and the titular see of Siminia

North and South Kivu have been embroiled in armed conflict for years. / Credit: MONUSCO/Clara Padovan

ACI Africa, Feb 23, 2025 / 10:30 am (CNA).
Locals at a village in the embattled North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) … […]

Father Francesco Patton, custos of the Holy Land, stops at the Eighth Station of the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem during the Good Friday Via Crucis on March 29, 2024. / Credit: Marinella Bandini

Jerusalem, Jan 28, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Franciscan Father Francesco Patton’s nine-year tenure as custos of the Holy Land began unexpectedly in 2016 when he found himself “redirected” — as he put it — to a largely unfamiliar land while preparing to take on a different assignment in Italy.

“I had only visited the Holy Land a couple of times as a pilgrim,” he admitted. “At first, I was apprehensive about accepting this responsibility because I felt I lacked the necessary knowledge to fulfill it properly.”

As the friar approaches the conclusion of his second term as custos of the Holy Land, he spoke with CNA about his experiences, challenges, and key moments in the role.

Patton emphasized that listening and studying were crucial to immersing himself in his new reality when he arrived. He credited the support of friars and collaborators, including Shibli, his driver. “He taught me to celebrate Mass in Arabic. While traveling, I would practice reading, and he would correct me. We developed a truly fraternal relationship.”

The custos serves as a unique provincial minister within the Franciscan order, leading a community of friars while also being the Holy See’s official guardian of the Christian holy sites. This responsibility was entrusted to the Franciscans by Pope Clement VI through the papal bull Gratias Agimus on Nov. 21, 1342.

Over its 700-year history, the Custody of the Holy Land has also become a point of reference for politicians, diplomats, and local authorities due to its deep roots in the region.

This distinctive role is reflected in the process of electing the custos. Unlike other provincials, who are directly elected by their friars, the custos is selected by the “General Definitorium” (the order’s governing council) and approved by the Holy See. The process is currently underway and will culminate between March and April with the appointment of the 169th custos of the Holy Land.

Patton described his service as deeply centered on the friars’ growth and community life. “I have personally interpreted my role as more focused on accompanying and supporting the friars,” he said.

“Intensity, spirituality, and fraternity” are the three words Patton used to summarize his experience in the Holy Land.

These nine years, he noted, have been “a profound spiritual journey, beginning with the connection to the holy sites. I have moved from theoretical knowledge to tangible reality.”

“I am even more convinced that as Christians, we must be anchored to the historical dimension of the mystery of the Incarnation,” he added.

Among the custos’ favorite sites are the basilicas of the Annunciation, the Nativity, and the Holy Sepulcher, as well as the sanctuaries around the Sea of Galilee. “These are places where Jesus shared the life of ordinary people, performed acts of fraternity, and had profound conversations, such as with Peter,” he reflected.

Franciscan fraternity, he explained, means approaching others with trust and seeing them as brothers, never enemies. “Trust is always worth it,” he emphasized.

This is precisely what took place in the paradigmatic encounter between St. Francis and Sultan Malik al-Kamil in 1219, an event that marked the beginning of the Franciscan presence in the Holy Land.

“War and evil produce only destruction and ugliness, while fraternity and peace create beauty,” he said. “I believe this is God’s dream, and we should nurture it more.”

Fraternity is also a style of governance, one that he has sought to follow throughout these nine years.

“My approach has been to lead by sharing,” he explained. “Today, people often speak of synodality; I personally prefer the term participation. While some decisions must be made individually, the more the friars are involved, the more fruitful those decisions will be, because those who are included also feel responsible.”

This participatory leadership reflects the Franciscan tradition, which at all its levels operates through a communal decision-making body — the chapter. “The fundamental idea,” Patton noted, “is that leadership is a service. It’s not always easy or successful, but it’s essential.”

“I have always seen my role as temporary,” he said. “My suitcase is always ready. Sometimes people joke about how I travel with just a small backpack, but Jesus himself, in the Gospel (Luke 10:4), tells us not to carry a bag. So, even the backpack might be too much!”

Patton pointed to the Gospel account of Christ washing his disciples’ feet as the ultimate example of servant leadership — a lesson that continues to shape his vision of fraternity in action.

The Franciscan acknowledged the challenges of his tenure, including war, the COVID-19 pandemic, and political tensions.

“I have lived through difficult moments,” Patton shared. “I was especially apprehensive for the friars serving in dangerous areas, such as Syria. However, I have not faced major misunderstandings, as I do not expect everyone to fully grasp what I am trying to accomplish, and I consider it legitimate for some to have differing opinions.”

When he arrived in 2016, the war in Syria was at its peak. “I asked Fra Hanna Jallouf, now Latin vicar of Aleppo, if he wanted to leave. He told me he would rather stay with his people, even if it meant dying, not abandon them like a mercenary. His faith helped me approach difficult decisions with greater serenity.”

Nine years later, with the new situation in the country, that decision now seems almost providential. “The friars were the only Christian presence in the Idlib region for many years. Now, they can play a role in facilitating dialogue with the new leadership,” he said, adding: “When I arrived, I prayed to the Heavenly Father that I might at least witness the end of one war during my term. Perhaps that prayer has been heard.”

Reflecting on the war in Gaza, Patton emphasized the need for true peace, not just temporary truces. “We need to adopt a long-term perspective, even if the path to peace is arduous.”

During the pandemic, the custody faced severe economic challenges, also taking out loans to support employees. “We faced these difficulties with faith and a willingness to take personal risks,” he said.

Patton also noted growing political tensions and pressures, including attacks on Christian sites and increased challenges from the Israeli political climate.

“In 2018, we closed the Holy Sepulcher, in agreement with all the churches, in order to oppose a legislative initiative that we believed would unfairly tax us and introduce mechanisms that could ultimately lead to the expropriation of Church properties.”

Over the years, the custos explained, “I have witnessed a progressive shift in Israeli politics, steering the country toward a right-wing alignment that combines nationalist and religious fundamentalism. Pressure has increased on the West Bank, and the war in Gaza would have been fought differently with another government, with more attention given to the issue of hostages. We ourselves have faced growing pressure, such as on the issue of taxes, as well as an increase in attacks, both in the holy sites and personally, with insults and even spitting.”

In these circumstances, Patton expressed confidence in the custody’s contribution to a different future: “I am convinced that the custody is already making a contribution, starting with the schools where we educate everyone to have a fraternal perspective toward others.”

Looking ahead, Patton envisions the custody’s mission continuing amid complexity. Internally, he foresees a more international community with less European influence. “This will be both a challenge and a source of enrichment,” he observed. “We will need to work much harder on formation.”

When it comes to his own future, amid speculation about a possible episcopal appointment, he said: “Nine years ago, I thought I would be a parish priest in Turin, but I came to the Holy Land instead. Since then, I have resolved not to make plans but to trust in God.”

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Tehran, Iran, Jan 2, 2018 / 04:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Ongoing protests in Iran could be a sign of hope for repressed religious minorities, if protesters demand that conscience rights be respected, said an Iranian-born journalist who converted to Catholicism in 2016.

Although most of those protesting in the streets of Iran were born after the 1979 revolution that led to the current Islamist regime, “many of them are chanting nostalgic slogans about the pre-revolutionary era,” noted Sohrab Ahmari.

“At the time Iran was no democracy,” he said, but the pre-revolution regime “was far less repressive and people retained many personal and social liberties, if not political ones.”

Ahmari was born in Tehran. He has lived in the United States for two decades and worked for the Wall Street Journal for several years before becoming a senior writer for Commentary magazine.

Ahmari spoke to CNA on Jan. 2, as Iranians protesting economic and social grievances flooded the streets of the Middle Eastern country.
 
Since the current round of protests erupted on Dec. 28, at least 21 people have died and 450 been arrested, CNN reports.

The protests are the largest in the country since the 2009 Green Movement, when thousands rallied in opposition to a presidential election they claimed was fraudulent.

The Iranian government has responded to the current demonstrations by sending out riot police and restricting access to internet and social media.
The protests began over economic issues. A year after sanctions against Iran were lifted by the United States, United Nations, and European Union, citizens of the Middle Eastern nation have yet to see the economic recovery that many had expected. Unemployment among the youth is high, and food and gasoline prices have risen significantly.

However, as the protests have grown, so have the grievances, with signs and slogans opposing what many see as a corrupt regime that suppresses the civil rights of its people.

“I don’t think you can separate the economic from the political,” Reza Marashi, research director for the National Iranian American Council, told CNN.

Ahmari agreed that the nation’s unrest shows a deep-seated discontent.

“The Iranians who are pouring into the streets have had it with an ideological regime that represses them and can’t even delivery basic economic security,” he said.

And while life is difficult for every Iranian, the situation for Christians and other religious minorities is particularly perilous, Ahmari told CNA.

“They are systematically discriminated against, are barred from various public offices and military posts, are prohibited by law from proselytizing, and so on.”

The regime does grant Christians and Jews a certain level of “second-class protection” as “People of the Book,” Ahmari said, but even this “limited protection only applies to the likes of Armenians and Assyrians, who are considered indigenous Christians.”

Converts are not protected, he said, because Sharia law – which is the foundation of Iran’s penal code – views apostasy from Islam as a crime punishable by death.

While the regime generally does not formally charge Christian converts with apostasy, Ahmari said, “it routinely harasses them, monitors and raids their house churches, and arrests and imprisons their pastors on trumped-up ‘national-security’ charges.”

Nearly a week after the start of the protests, it remains to be seen what effect they will have, if any. But Ahmari is hopeful that any changes in the government will include a greater respect for religious minorities.

Life before the 1979 revolution that brought Sharia law to the country “wasn’t ideal,” he acknowledged.

“(B)ut minorities thrived, and there was a sense that Iranian-ness wasn’t just about Shiite Islam but also incorporated pre-Islamic elements. Jews, Christians, Baha’i and others belonged to this identity. They were tolerated and even celebrated,” he said.

“If the protesters can recover something of that inclusive nationalism, then Christians and other ethnic and sectarian minorities will be better off than they are now.”
 

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