Update on Gaza
On 15 January, Israel and Hamas agreed, in principle, to a long-awaited cease-fire. The cease-fire deal, brokered by Egypt and Qatar with support from the United States, called for a 42-day pause in fighting and the return of dozens of Israeli hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners.
“At long last, a cease-fire has been reached, awaited by 2 million Gazans who have been through unimaginable, horrific conditions and experienced incredible loss,” said Joseph Hazboun, CNEWA’s regional director for Palestine and Israel.
“We pray for the victims on both sides and plan to work diligently to deliver aid to the afflicted and destitute.”
At the time of the cease-fire, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported a death toll in Gaza at more than 46,000 people.
Beginning the Jubilee Year in Rome
Launching into the Jubilee of Hope, Msgr. Peter I. Vaccari, CNEWA president, participated in the meeting of the annual steering committee of the aid agencies supporting the Eastern churches (ROACO) sponsored by the Dicastery for Eastern Churches, in Rome, 9-10 January. The gathering of representatives of nearly 30 aid organizations included sessions on the impacts of the Israel-Hezbollah and Russia-Ukraine conflicts, presented by the apostolic nuncios to Lebanon and Ukraine, respectively.
CNEWA kicked off the jubilee year with news of the formal legal recognition of CNEWA Italia, a national office centered in Rome, and the launch of its new website, cnewa.org/it/.
In this Jubilee of Hope, the theme of which is “Pilgrims of Hope,” CNEWA is starting a new blog series, “Pilgrims of Healing & Hope,” highlighting significant stewards of its mission. Follow along and read their stories on the CNEWA blog.
Lebanon Elects a President
The head of Lebanon’s national army, General Joseph Aoun, was sworn in as the 14th president of Lebanon on 9 January, after being elected by the nation’s parliament that same day. A Maronite Catholic, as is the convention for the nation’s head of state, President Aoun’s inauguration ended a two-year vacancy, which coincided with the continued fallout of the August 2020 Beirut port blast, socioeconomic collapse and inflation, a wave of emigration and a devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Mr. Aoun named Nawaf Salam, head of the International Court of Justice, prime minister on 13 January. Mr. Salam’s nomination was endorsed by a parliamentary majority.
“The election of the new president and the nomination of a new prime minister are perceived by all Lebanese as a new era in the political life of Lebanon,” said Michel Constantin, CNEWA’s regional director for Lebanon, Syria and Egypt, based in Beirut. “It gave a new ray of hope in fighting corruption, building a modern state, and re-establishing the presence of Lebanon on the international map after years of isolation.”
Truce in Syro-Malabar Dispute
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church held its synod of bishops from 6 to 11 January at Mount St. Thomas in Kerala, India, amid the ongoing liturgy disputes in the major archiepiscopal See of Ernakulam-Angamaly. The decades-old conflicts — which stem to the restoration of the Eastern Syriac liturgical traditions of the Eastern Catholic church erased after centuries of imposed Latin rites and practices — have taken an alarming turn with priests staging hunger strikes and burning effigies of church leaders, threatening further schisms among the Christians of St. Thomas. A temporary truce was struck after the synod, on 13 January, to halt the protests, which required police intervention, and to facilitate further dialogue.
CNEWA’s Healing & Hope Gala
CNEWA’s third annual Healing & Hope Gala, held in New York on 9 December, concluded events commemorating the 75th anniversary of Pontifical Mission, CNEWA’s operating agency in the Middle East. The event welcomed some 300 people and raised more than $300,000 for CNEWA’s humanitarian work, especially its program of emergency relief in the Middle East.
“We are all born in Jerusalem, where the cross and the resurrection of the Lord is. But we cannot go there just to see the stones and the places. We have to go there to meet the living stones that are the Christian community,” said Archbishop Gabriele G. Caccia, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, who was the guest of honor at the gala.
Amanda Bowman, gala chair, presented CNEWA’s Faith & Culture Award to Gayle M. Benson, philanthropist and owner of the New Orleans Saints and governor of the New Orleans Pelicans, for her outstanding contributions to the promotion of faith in contemporary culture.
CNEWA Is Moving
After more than 50 years at the Archdiocese of New York’s Terence Cardinal Cooke Building on First Avenue in Manhattan, CNEWA moved its headquarters in the middle of February to the historic Daily News Building at 220 East 42nd Street. CNEWA will occupy the 27th floor of the Art Deco structure listed as a U.S. National Historical Landmark, National Register of Historic Places and New York City Landmark. CNEWA’s new address is: 220 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017.
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