St Peter’s at sunset

Representatives from Justice & Peace Scotland and the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh's Caritas, Justice & Peace Commission were delighted to attend an audience and Q&A with Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, in Edinburgh yesterday.

The Cardinal gave a heartfelt and poignant account of the conflict and of the struggles, fears and grief experienced by both Palestinians and Israelis since October 2023.

In perhaps his most saddening remarks, he told the audience how the Hamas attack on October 7th has felt like another Holocaust for Israelis and simultaneously, the retaliation since by Israel has felt like another Nakba for Palestinians, and that subsequently peace feels very far away.

In a moment of optimism though, he told of how the Christian Church there has an invaluable role to play as mediators and peacemakers.

When reflecting on Cardinal Pizzaballa's visit, we call the words of Fr Gabriel Romanelli who visited us earlier this year, too:

"Pray in whatever way you can, work for peace in whatever way you can." 🕊️

A huge well done and thank you to the Caritas students of St Anthony's and St Mark's Rutherglen who are participating in a Justice & Peace Scotland project on human trafficking as part of their Caritas Award. 👏

Last weekend and this weekend they spoke to parishioners at mass about the issue of human trafficking and this week they will host a holy hour to pray for all victims, survivors and perpetrators of human trafficking and modern slavery. 🙏

Did you know that every local authority in the country has recorded incidents of human trafficking? In the new year the Caritas group will facilitate an advocacy action in the parish to respond to the issue in Scotland. 📝