“Lebanon cannot be left prey to the course of events or those who pursue their own unscrupulous interests,” Pope Francis said on the day of prayer and reflection for peace in Lebanon.

“The Holy See fears the collapse of the country,” Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states, stated frankly.

The United States has dithered on establishing any policy to help bring an end to a conflict now in its eighth decade.

“Violence is also in the language, in the political decisions, in the conditions of life under which the Gaza population has been living many years.”

What’s going on in the Holy Land—and what’s at the root of the problem? Why should Catholics care?

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.