Cardinal Pizzaballa: Take Me Instead!

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa a Franciscan Bishop of Jerusalem has offered to be taken hostage for the release of the children who were abducted by Hamas in the terror attack last week. This is reminiscent of another Franciscan, Maximilian Kolbe, who stepped up to be swapped for a Catholic Polish father of two, who was sentenced to death by starvation, during World War II, in the dreaded Auschwitz concentration camp. The holy man said, "Take me instead!".

It was Saint Francis himself who made an effort to dialogue with the Muslims in the Holy Land and it is the Franciscans who staff most Roman Catholic sites in the Holy Land to this day. 

"I am ready for an exchange, anything, if this can lead to freedom, to bring the children home. No problem. There is total willingness on my part" said the Italian cardinal, Pizzaballa.

Cardinal Pizzaballa understands the meaning of the red zuchetto worn only by cardinals. The color red symbolizes how each cardinal should be willing to spill his blood for the church. 

So far, no mainstream news media or their leftist pundits have labeled his daring gesture as a sign of 'toxic masculinity' or  'old-fashioned patriarchy'. Meanwhile, men throughout the Catholic Church have a Christ-like, Lion of Judah type man to emulate.

Pizzaballa and his office are currently trying to make contact Hamas to make the deal.

The 58 year old cardinal entered the Franciscan Cristo Re province in 1976 and made his first profession of vows in 1985, followed by his perpetual profession in 1989, and was ordained a priest in 1990. Along the way he became a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre. Cardinal Pizzaballa OFM became a cardinal only one month ago on September 30, 2023. 

His episcopal motto is 'Sufficit Tibi Gratia Mea', which means, 'My grace is sufficient for you'. 

When Pizzaballa became the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, he explained why he chose a line by St. Paul (2 Cor 12:9) as his motto: “The Church in the Holy Land has no means and no power. She only has Christ and his grace.” The Italian Franciscan who served for more than a decade in the Holy Land said that in the face of the seemingly “huge and insurmountable” difficulties facing the region, the “word of God reminds us that it is to grace alone, and nothing else, that we should entrust ourselves.” His coat of arms includes an image of the city of Jerusalem as it was depicted in the Middle Ages on seals of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. The Coat of Arms that he designed and chose for his rank as Cardinal gives us some insight into the man... (see below).