Christian World | Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti will visit Catholic communities in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Galilee on Nov. 16-21 on behalf of Pope Leo XIV, Vatican News reports

ACW | November 11, 2026 — Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, head of the Vatican's Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, will travel to the Holy Land on Nov. 16-21 on behalf of Pope Leo XIV, Vatican News reported on Wednesday.

Citing a statement from the dicastery, Vatican News said he will meet bishops, priests, religious and lay Catholics of the Latin, Greek Melkite, Maronite, Armenian, Syriac and Chaldean rites in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Galilee.

In the West Bank, he will meet the faithful of Ain Arik and support a youth centre there. He will also speak remotely with the parish priest of Holy Family Church in Gaza, Vatican News said.

The dicastery said the trip is meant to represent the pope's solidarity and concrete support for Holy Land Christians. Gugerotti is also due to meet Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III and Armenian Patriarch Nourhan Manougian of Jerusalem.

He will visit Bethlehem University, the Pontifical Effatà Institute and several Christian schools. The trip ends with Masses at the Basilicas of the Holy Sepulchre, the Nativity and the Annunciation, according to Vatican News.

Background: The war in Gaza has driven Christian emigration, especially from the Palestinian territories, and only about 500 Christians remain in Gaza, EWTN News reported. Patriarch Theophilos III featured in an earlier ACW story: Putin gives Jerusalem patriarch Russia's Order of Friendship.

Why it matters: Christians make up about 1.9% of Israel's population, and about 35,000 Catholics live among 3.5 million people in the West Bank, EWTN News said. The future of these small communities is part of freedom of religion or belief in the Middle East.

ACW will continue to follow this story.

Sources: Vatican News — Cardinal Gugerotti in the Holy Land to bring the Pope's support (Dicastery for the Eastern Churches statement); EWTN News — Vatican official to visit Holy Land to bring closeness of Pope Leo XIV

Photo: Daniel Ibáñez / EWTN News (archive)