Scottish Catholic Observer

By Peter Diamond

Palestinian Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali (above) said he believed the Blessed Marie Alphonsine Ghattas and the Blessed Mariam Baouardi, becoming saints would be a great boost his people. Earlier this week the Vatican handed another boon to the Palestinians when it announced it would recognise Palestine as a separate state.

Bishop  Shomali will attend Sunday’s Canonisation ceremony at the Vatican with 200 other Pilgrims from the Holy Land.

“It is indeed a great source of encouragement for our Christians here,” he said in an interview with the charity Aid to the Church in Need. “It also enhances the image of our people, showing that we can produce saints—not just terrorists.”

Bishop Shomali stressed the importance of two new saints coming from the Middle East.

“Many Saints come from Europe and America,” he said. “We have not had so many coming from the Middle East in recent times. But these two come from the Holy Land, which is revered by Christians from across the globe. Their graves will now be two more holy sites in the Holy Land.”

He also said he hoped the whole world would benefit from these new Saints, Mother Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas (1847-1927), of Jerusalem, founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Rosary, and Mariam Baouardy (1846- 1878), a Carmelite nun born in the village of I’billin, Galilee who founded the Carmelite convent in Bethlehem.

“When we read the life of the new saints, we are encouraged to emulate them,” he said. “They belong to the whole Church. One of the healing miracles that led to the Canoniation of the Blessed Mariam took place in Syracuse, in Sicily. After a novena a child was completely delivered from a heart condition in an inexplicable way. The child will take part in the Holy Mass. This shows that the new saints are intercessors not only for the Holy Land, but for the world Church as a whole.”

Bishop Shomali expressed hope that the canonizations are a sign pointing to a better year for the Holy Land. “It is my hope that, not least due to the Canonisations, 2015 will be a better year than 2014 with the war in Gaza and the unrest in Jerusalem,” he said.

The Canonisation ceremony will take place just three days after it was announced the Vatican would formally recognise the state of Palestine in a treaty.

The Vatican said the treat would  help protect the civil rights of the Catholic Church in Palestine but Israel has expressed its disappointment at the decision, which it says will not advance the peace process.