The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, has been awarded the title of Grand Official of the Legion of Honour. The decree of the President of the French Republic, Jacques Chirac, is dated 18th April, but the honour was awarded on 6th November. Expressing his gratitude for the honour to President Chirac and Foreign Minister Philippe Doust-Blagy, Monsignor Sabbah said he saw “in this gesture a recognition of the action of the Church I represent and of its commitment to peace and justice in the Holy Land. We need to work – he said – at the service of the human person, his dignity, his freedom, and his liberation from the evil that others impose in the form of occupation, reprisal or violent reaction, as in the case of our two peoples of the Holy Land and their rulers”. The Patriarch then recalled “the friendship and the objective action of all the French consuls in Jerusalem that I have known. Their friendship has been extended to all this land and all its inhabitants, both Israelis and Palestinians. In this action – he added – I have been able to remark a friendship for the Palestinian people and for the Church”. “What the Churches asks of secular France today – concluded Sabbah – is to help the human person in this land to govern wisely, and to open himself to dialogue and collaboration for the good of everyone”.
