On Monday, December 22, with Christmas only a few days away, the Church of the Holy Redeemer in Jenin, the West Bank, suffered an act of vandalism as their Christmas tree was set on fire by alleged radicalized young Muslims.

On Tuesday, December 23, the community has decided to inaugurate a new one, with the participation of Bishop William Shomali, Vicar General of the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem, and local authorities.

Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana, Nuncio to Israel and Apostolic Delegate to Jerusalem and Palestine, told Vatican News that this act “is a big, heavy shadow on the Christmas spirit’s joy that all our Christian communities, and even non-Christian, have begun to celebrate after two years of being limited to very simple manifestations.”

 “We condemn this absolutely, because we are supposed to live as brothers here,” he continued, highlighting how Catholics, Orthodox and other Christians come together to celebrate Christmas.

“We cannot accept people who are lost in their ideologies of selfishness. We condemn this act, but we will not allow it to steal from us the deep joy we have,” Archbishop Yllana explained.

Hope that sustains the population

“Not only have we seen the light, not only can we now breathe after two years, but we know that Christmas is the message that God has not abandoned us, he has not forgotten us, and he is with us. This is the joy we have. Not only Christians, but Muslims and those without faith, they see it, they join," he added.

He called for prayers for those who perpetrated this act of violence, hoping that “the example we give may transform them also.”

The archbishop also spoke about hope and how it is something concrete and not just a word for the local populations. “It’s the air we breathe. It’s the atmosphere we find not only in our families, our communities,” he said.

“It is the way we think, it is within us, that hope. That is why after two years we did not forget, joy just exploded in our hearts.”