Rome, Italy, Oct 10, 2010 / 16:56 pm
Catholics in Israel face a situation in “complete flux,” Vatican expert Sandro Magister says. Descendants of indigenous Christians have been joined by Catholic immigrants who are learning Hebrew and are assimilating into Israeli culture.
While in percentage terms there has been a “slight reduction” of the Christian population in Israel from three to two percent, there are presently 150,000 of them in the country. Most live in Galilee and there are 15,000 in Jerusalem, Magister said.
In his Oct. 8 “Chiesa” column anticipating the upcoming Vatican synod on the Church in the Middle East, Magister discussed the unique situation of Hebrew-speaking Catholics. Though there were only several hundred of them until a few years ago, they now have at least seven communities in Jerusalem, Jaffa, Be’er, Sheva, Haifa, Tiberias, Latrun and Nazareth.
They have a specific vicariate under the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and are entrusted to Jesuit Fr. David Neuhaus, an Israeli Jew who converted to Christianity.