Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, formerly the Apostolic Nuncio to Australia, as Apostolic Nuncio to Israel and Apostolic Delegate in Jerusalem and Palestine. “I am aware it is a major challenge,” Archbishop Lazzarotto told Vatican Radio. “But it is a challenge I accept with joy; because I think it is important to carry on the work of the past few years which was accomplished with hard work and graciousness by my predecessors. I will move in their wake and offer my best efforts in the cause of dialogue and peace. ”
Archbishop Lazzarotto said it is only through dialogue that a just solution can be found to meet the various aspirations of the different peoples of the region.
“There are many men and women of good will who live in the Holy Land,” he said.
Speaking of the region’s small Christian community, Archbishop Lazzarotto praised their witness to their faith, through “small fraternal gestures, and small gestures of understanding, dialogue, and friendship.”
“I believe this is the necessary path,” he said. “to live together, in harmony and fraternity, to be living witnesses to the Risen Lord.”
The members of the Christian community daily live their commitment, their testimony of faith, but an effective witness through this daily commitment, through small gestures of fraternity, the small gestures of understanding, dialogue and friendship.
Archbishop Lazzarotto is familiar with the region. His first assignment as an Apostolic Nuncio was to Jordan and Iraq, from 1994-2000. He had also previously served in Jerusalem from 1982-1984.