“In a region wounded by division and conflict, our priority is to be first and foremost a sign of unity, between us, and with the other Christian communities. Then, having an honest, friendly dialogue with the Muslim and Jewish religious communities”. This is the bent of the Mother Church of Jerusalem in the words of Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, apostolic administrator of the Latin Patriarchate, in an interview given to the website of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in which he outlines the challenges of his tenure. “It is important that we try to understand complex situations, without being in a hurry to judge them. Having a heart longing for meeting anyone. Working peacefully with everyone, with no distinctions and no fears, for justice and peace. Aware that the solution to the problems that afflict the Country is far away – the former Custodian of the Holy Land points out –; we want to stay in his situation in our Christian style: peaceful, fearless, stubbornly longing to accept anyone”. “Hope, trust, courage” are the keywords that the apostolic administrator tells the devotees of the Latin Christian Community of the Holy Land, at the start of his tenure, which will “last for a limited time”. “It is obvious to me – he admits – that I cannot do anything on my own, and the support of the whole Church, bishops, priests and lay people, is a priority. I think my task is to pave the way, as John the Baptist did. I will try – Pizzaballa concludes – to immediately get in touch with the local priests, who are the soul of the diocese, the seminary and the large number of religious people. Listening to the vastness of the diocesan region, to its complexities. Getting into the situations, humbly and respectfully, and trying to find solutions together”.