Pope Francis today expressed his “very great concern” at the armed clashes in Gaza and Israel and made an urgent, passionate appeal “to those with the responsibility” to bring a ceasefire and “to walk the path of peace.”

I refuse the logic that insists that, by saying the occupation must end, I am with the Palestinians and against the Israelis. There is a third place, which is not “for” or “against,” and that is the place of love, a love rooted in justice.

Christian leaders in the Holy Land expressed deep concern over growing Israeli-Palestinian violence, as the two sides clashed in Jerusalem and Israel launched airstrikes into Gaza, responding to rocket attacks.

Pope Francis: “I pray that Jerusalem may be a place of encounter and not of violent clashes, a place of prayer and of peace.”

This year, I barely recognized Bethlehem, the city I know so well.

In the 53rd year of Israel’s military occupation of Palestine, Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah asks Christians worldwide to join a nonviolent resistance movement shaped by the “logic of love.”