( April 2, 2026 / JNS ) According to a nine-column front-page headline in La Repubblica, one of Italy’s leading daily newspapers, the world can witness how difficult life supposedly is for Christians in Israel.

Indeed, the situation is portrayed as a “shock” for Christianity as a whole, especially for Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, who is depicted as a heroic figure “in conflict with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu over the horrors of Gaza,” and allegedly prevented by wicked Jews from going to pray at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Thus, the narrative goes, Christians are prevented from praying and living their faith in the Holy Land.