Archbishop Fouad Twal
Coadjutor Archbishop of Jerusalem
President of Bethlehem University
Posted on 03/20/2008 5:45:23 AM PDT by NYer
The top Roman Catholic Church official in Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jordan and Cyprus, Latin Patriarch and Archbishop of Jerusalem Michel Sabbah, tendered his resignation to Rome on Wednesday - his 75th birthday - in accordance with Church tradition.
Sabbah, who is known for his outspoken criticism of Israel and his opposition to the West Bank security barrier, is expected to stay in his post for the coming weeks.
He will be replaced by Archbishop Fouad Twal, a Jordanian, who was chosen as coadjutor, a grooming position for the patriarchate, in September 2005.
Twal's appointment continues the trend of appointing indigenous clergymen to fill the church's most senior positions, which began in earnest after World War II.
The trend, which was tied to the reversal of colonialist enterprises, began in the Protestant churches, with Anglicans and Lutherans preferring locals to Europeans in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Sabbah, who was appointed in December 1987, was the first Palestinian to be appointed as patriarch of Jerusalem; the position was created in 1099, after the Crusaders' conquest of Jerusalem.
Before Sabbah, the post had been dominated by Italians.
Sabbah's tenure has been punctuated by strong political statements against Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria. The patriarch has also taken part in demonstrations against the security barrier, erected to prevent terrorist infiltration into Israel, calling it a "prison."
In December, he said that Israel should abandon its Jewish character in favor of a normal state for Christians Muslims and Jews.
In his Easter message, probably his last holiday message as patriarch, Sabbah speaks of the Holy Land as a "land of revelation, redemption, and reconciliation" that has been troubled by "inhumane and futile violence."
"Unfortunately this land remains a land of bloodshed, ignoring its own vocation," wrote Sabbah, who was born in Nazareth.
"It is high time to learn the lessons of history and engage in the path of God; it is high time for every people and individual to accept the vocation entrusted by God to them, which is to build societies and not demolish them." he continued.
"Patriarch Sabbah was the first to speak in the name of the Christian faithful, not in the name of the Church," said Father David Neuhaus, professor of Scripture at the Roman Catholic Seminary in Beit Jala, near Bethlehem.
"He is a son of the people who carries with him the experiences of the people. Current events are too close to real life for the patriarch to ignore them. He is too rooted in the land."
Twal, who served in the Vatican Foreign Service between 1987 and 1992, received early education in Catholic institutions in the Holy Land. In 1992 he was appointed archbishop of Tunis.
There are about 75,000 Catholics within the patriarchate.
The sooner Sabbeh goes, the better. He is extremely leftwing and has done nothing but keep the waters troubled during his stay. The fact that there are virtually no Christians left in the area, with more fleeing every day, should tell us all how well he has done his job.
“...Sabbah, who is known for his outspoken criticism of Israel and his opposition to the West Bank security barrier...”
I’m a Catholic who is about fed up with those in the Church who refuse to see the historical and political facts in front of them!
The Pali’s have turned down a dozen opportunities, over the past 100 years, to have a separate state.
Their reason for letting these opportunities pass is because it would require that they accept the exisitance of Israel!!!!
I hear Priests whining about Israel causing bullet holes inside a Catholic Church, with no mention that they were in hot pursuit of terrorists, who had just committed terrorism.
I hope dear Rev. Sabbah has a sanctified and obscure retirement. It’s a shame he didn’t seek it years ago.
Best wishes to the new Archbishop.
I have not been impressed with Sabbah. Hopefully his successor will be better.
It is good that Sabbeh is leaving. He was just too pro-Arab Muslim to the point as you have said it has caused many of the Arab Christians to leave the area, and as time goes on, the only Christians left will be those who are there just to take care of the shrines.
May this new archbishshop do a much better job. God Bless him.
Ugg, if I have to see one more article in Catholic Review, with liberal priests protesting for the terror Palis, I’m going to barf.
I didn’t know much about this guy, but now it all makes sense.
Good riddance to an Israel-hating Marxist!
The fact that his resignation was so quickly accepted (he turned 75 yesterday!) is very telling.
Also, note that a “coadjutor bishop” was appointed for him in 2005. That’s Rome’s polite way of saying goodbye.
Having an Auxiliary Bishop means your job is just too big for one man to handle.
Having a Coadjutor Bishop means you need somebody to hold your leash.
Rome is too diplomatic and politic to ever put it quite so bluntly ...
Indeed. The ecclesiastical equivalent of "training your replacement."
Not just that - he's an "Israel-hating Marxist Catholic Archbishop and Latin Patriarch.
Dude, why do you feel the need to wave the red flag in front of the most notorious anti-Catholic bigot on this forum?
Shoot, I jump on 'em more than you do, and I don't do it because of "reactionary bigotry" either.
LOL we may have to have a title bout, as I've practically become a brand name for "anti-Catholicism" despite a similar lack of "reactionary bigotry" myself. Do you receive inflammatory FReepmails and posts from Catholics that you've never interacted with before?
Get a room fellas. ;-)
Nope. Maybe you have me beat after all.
I wasn't exactly boasting. I have a very bad tendency to say very hurtful things and I've had to apologize (quite rightly) many, many times. And I admire some of the Catholics on this forum so I don't exactly derive a great sense of joy from my fights much of the time.
You may have misunderstood my remark about reactionary bigotry. I didn't mean that I don't exhibit reactionary bigotry, but that my attacks on Catholics are not based on the liberal anti-Catholic mantra that "Catholics are reactionary bigots." To me the Catholic Church is a modernist new age religion (I was a member for six years) and almost all of my own kicking and screaming has to do with how Catholics claim to belong to an ancient unchanging church while promoting the most modernist nonsense about the Bible (it's mythology, it's full of mistakes, we "know" nowadays that evolution is how everything got here, etc.). It's especially maddening when these scientific skeptics who approach the Hebrew Bible so critically become simple little children when it comes to the virgin or apparitions or bilocations or transubstantiation. Sometimes it seems they deliberately engage in this double standard just to tick us Bible-thumpers off.
Another of my themes (not nearly as often stressed in my tantrums) is the hypocrisy of applying Pauline antinomianism to the Holy Torah ("that was done away with! That's salvation by works! Grace alone!") and then turning to Protestants and sounding like Talmudic scholars ("is it permitted to eat Oreas during Lent? Works are necessary! You Prots are going to be surprised because you haven't been observing church ritual and law!"). It's what made a Noachide out of me.
You'll doubtless be sad to learn that my rants have nothing whatever to do with the "five solas," however (actually, everyone believes in the efficacy of human effort no matter what they say!). Although ofttimes Catholics assume I'm arguing from a Protestant position. Many Catholics seem to have the greatest difficulty in telling the difference between "sola scriptura" (which as a Noachide I reject) and total Biblical inerrancy (which I enthusiastically accept). And try telling the difference. They don't get it. If the Bible isn't all sufficient, it must be full of errors.
Good gravy! No one believes the Book of Genesis is all sufficient, but that doesn't change the fact that it's totally inerrant!
Don't get me started!
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