Analyses
Religion
When “Greater Israel” Targets Christians Too
Claudia De Martino 3 October 2025
In the peak of summer, as Operation Gideon’s Chariots (launched in May 2025) entered its second month, news emerged that the Israeli army had bombed Gaza’s only Catholic church, the Church of the Holy Family, on July 17. The strike killed three people—a relatively small number in a territory where daily fatalities range between 40 and 70—but it drew attention across, where many governments had assumed that Christian sites and communities would be spared the violence by religious or diplomatic convention.
  • Haifa University Peace Prize Assigned to Cardinal Pizzaballa
    Alessandra Tommasi 17 September 2025
    Christ is in Gaza, “crucified in the wounded and buried under the rubble.” With that image, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, reaffirmed the Church’s presence in the enclave after his latest visit to the Strip. In August, he refused to evacuate the Holy Family parish in Gaza City, “a shelter for hundreds of civilians,” despite Israel’s announcement of its occupation. After October 7, 2023, he offered himself to Hamas in exchange for Israeli children held hostage. Now, the Laboratory for Religious Studies at the University of Haifa, led by Uriel Simonsohn, has awarded him their Annual Peace Award, which, for the past three years, has honored religious leaders who build bridges for local and regional peace.
  • The Christian Martyrs of Algeria: Why They Stayed
    Pasquale Ferrara 10 September 2025
    The connection between religion and violence has long been seen as a political and sociological certainty. In recent decades, particularly after the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution and the September 11, 2001 attacks, religions have returned to the center of the international political stage, and not always for the right reasons. Examples abound: conflicts in Bosnia, Algeria, Kashmir, Palestine, and Sudan; as well as violent Islamism, Hindu nationalism, the Christian Evangelical right, and extremist Jewish parties. The return of religion to international politics has been linked to the broader theme of identity politics. Religions have often been considered an emblematic case of the encroachment of irrationality into international security.
  • Taybeh: Now, Even Christians in the Holy Land Face Threats from Settlers
    Riccardo Cristiano 1 August 2025
    The upheavals concerning the area we call the Holy Land, where Jesus preached and which today spans Israel and the Palestinian Territories, inevitably involve the Christians living there. To grasp their significance, it’s useful to start with a Franciscan who was a passionate scholar of Judaism, later becoming Custos of the Holy Land and then Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem—the first patriarch to become a cardinal, Pierbattista Pizzaballa. How can we define him? Using the term he chose when elected in 2020: the “patriarch of remaining.”
  • The Far-Reaching Stakes of the Waqf Amendment Bill
    Mujibur Rehman 8 May 2025
    The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, alongside the proposed Uniform Civil Code, underscores the Narendra Modi government’s broader plan to reshape the sociopolitical landscape, particularly that of the country’s Muslim community. While the UCC has been a long-standing agenda of the Hindu Right – along with the Ram temple in Ayodhya and the abolition of Article 370 – it represents a more recent and potentially far-reaching intervention. Together, these legislative moves appear to be part of a concerted effort to realign the rights and identities of minority communities in accordance with a majoritarian vision.
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    The “Regime Change” of Trump’s Second Presidency: Political Messianism vs. Rule of Law
    Massimo Faggioli 7 May 2025
    In the history of the United States, this is the era of Donald Trump. The transition from Joe Biden to Trump does not represent a normal transition of power, but rather a regime change. It marks the rise of charismatic leadership and, in the eyes of many, even a form of political messianism, often at odds with the constitutional rule of law. Trump’s second presidency steers America onto a path few – especially in Europe – had anticipated or even imagined, opening up unpredictable scenarios both domestically and internationally.
  • Modi’s Waqf Bill and the Future of Muslim Endowments in India
    Maria Tavernini 30 April 2025
    Despite a reduced majority in Parliament, India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has pushed through a contentious amendment that has dealt another blow to multireligious India and enraged the Muslim community. In early April, after a heated debate, lawmakers passed a controversial bill reshaping how Muslim-donated properties – known as waqf – are governed, triggering protests and fierce political opposition. After its introduction, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi tore up a copy of the bill in the Lok Sabha.
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