Archbishop of Canterbury pledges to pursue 'peace and freedom' for Palestinians on West Bank visit
Dame Sarah Mullally is on a pilgrimage that includes meetings, prayer and worship with Palestinian Christians in East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and Israel.
Dame Sarah Mullally, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has told Palestinians she will use her position to seek “the peace you desire and the freedom you deserve”.
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She made the vow during a sermon on Sunday as she carried out the first visit by an Archbishop of Canterbury to the Palestinian Christian town of Birzeit in the West Bank.
The Archbishop is on a pilgrimage that includes meetings, prayer and worship with Palestinian Christians in East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and Israel.
On the second day of her trip, she said it was “a privilege” to spend time with worshippers and acknowledged the heavy cost of life they face every day.
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She told the congregation: “I am aware that I have certain freedoms that many of you do not enjoy, being able to cross borders and checkpoints, spending time in neighbouring communities, and going to Jerusalem.
“I am deeply humbled by this opportunity to join you in prayer and fellowship,” she said. “I recognise the costliness of life for you and your families, and the costliness of following Jesus here in this land, which was our Saviour’s home and is your home.
“Thank you for the openness with which you have welcomed me. I will not forget what I have seen and what I have heard. I could not forget it. I will carry these encounters with me as I return home.
“I will use my role as Archbishop to seek the peace you desire and the freedom you deserve,” she added.
Mullally spoke to the congregation about living faithfully in the face of fear, trusting in Christ’s promises and seeing Christian hope as a form of resistance.
She described fathers and mothers navigating checkpoints every day to earn an income or get their children to school, and communities gathering to break bread together in church week by week, as visible acts of “faithful resistance."
"All these acts of faithful resistance point to our hope in Jesus Christ and reflect your ongoing struggle for freedom and dignity,” she said.
She also plans to visit healthcare projects and a school run by the diocese, and to hold meetings with church leaders, lay people and congregations in churches across the region.
The Archbishop is set to pray at key Christian holy sites in Nazareth, Bethlehem and Jerusalem during her time in the region.