Christian World | More than 300 Hebrew- and Arabic-speaking young Catholics prayed together in both languages at an annual Holy Land youth festival, Vatican News reported

ACW | November 2, 2026 — More than 300 Hebrew- and Arabic-speaking young Catholics gathered over the weekend for an annual youth festival in the Holy Land, Vatican News reported.

The festival was organized by the St. James Vicariate, the community of Hebrew-speaking Catholics belonging to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, according to the Holy See's official news service. Young people from other parishes across the Holy Land also took part.

The program included communal prayer, workshops and a shared meal. Participants prayed in Arabic and Hebrew at the same time, Vatican News said.

"The illnesses affecting our society, the wounds and the conflict really change us," Father Piotr Żelazko, patriarchal vicar for Hebrew-speaking Catholics in Israel, told Vatican News. "If Jesus does not unite us, then our faith is not authentic!"

Żelazko said Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, had reminded them that if they continued "doing these beautiful things, there will be people who do not accept them."

Background: The annual festival had been interrupted by conflict before resuming, according to Vatican News. ACW earlier reported on the vandalism of a Maronite prayer hall in northern Israel; read ACW's report.

Why it matters: The festival brought together young Catholics from two language communities in a land whose society, organizers say, has been wounded by conflict, with both languages side by side in prayer, Vatican News reported.

ACW will continue to follow this story.

Source: Vatican News — A faith that unites: A youth festival in the Holy Land

Photo: Vatican News