A top Catholic leader in Jerusalem is willing to put his own life on the line to save Israeli children being held hostage by Hamas, according to multiple news reports. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem, told journalists Monday that he would take part in an exchange for child hostages after specifically being asked if he would. “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,” he said, according...

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends,” John 15:13 proclaims. During a video conference interview on Monday, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Patriarch of Jerusalem and Pope Francis’ representative in the Holy Land, said that he was willing to exchange himself for the hostages in Gaza, according to Reuters. “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,” he said. “The first thing to...

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Patriarch of Jerusalem and the papal representative to the Holy Land, on Monday offered to exchange himself for the Israeli children taken hostage during the savage Hamas attack last weekend. The exact number of people kidnapped from Israeli border villages by Hamas is not known to the public, but various authorities estimate the number at 150 to 200, including at least a dozen children. Another Palestinian terror gang, Islamic Jihad, claims it has taken 30 hostages of its own. Hamas has threatened to murder its hostages if...

The leader of the Catholic Church in Jerusalem said he would be willing to offer himself in exchange for the safe return of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, an Italian national who serves as the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, said he was willing to do "anything" to ensure "those children [come] back home." Hamas has been holding some 200 hostages since they launched terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7. More than 4,000 people have been killed since the attacks began and Israel responded with airstrikes in...

The Roman Catholic Church’s top official in the Holy Land expressed his willingness on Monday to exchange himself for the children taken hostage by Hamas terrorists and being held in Gaza as officials around the world work to free those kidnapped amid an imminent Israeli ground assault. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa made the heartfelt, though unofficial, offer in a response to a reporter’s question during an online meeting with Vatican-based journalists. "If I’m available for an exchange?" Pizzaballa responded.

JERUSALEM (ABC4) — The 93 students at the BYU Jerusalem Center in Israel, along with several BYU faculty, their families and service couples, safely found refuge in Athens on Sunday afternoon. In a security update, the Jerusalem Center confirmed they had arrived in Athens just before 4 p.m. Utah time on Sunday, Oct. 15. The refugees were bused to a hotel near Nafplion. Officials said not everyone at the Jerusalem Center made the trip to Greece, however. Jerusalem Center Executive Director Eran Hayet, Associate Director Tawfic Alawi, Head of Security...

Six days after Hamas attacked Israel, Brigham Young University is evacuating its Jerusalem Center. According to the university, 93 students, faculty members and their families, and service couples are “currently relocating to Greece.” BYU has reported no violence at or near its the eight-tiered, 125,000-square-foot building, but Americans are being evacuated from Israel. The Biden administration has announced it is chartering flights to Europe, and that Americans can make their way home from there. BYU released no details about its plans once it students and faculties reach Greece.

JERUSALEM (ABC4) — The BYU Jerusalem Center in Israel is relocating the 93 students, faculty, families and service couples to Greece, the facility announced on Friday morning. Details about where the students, faculty and family members would be staying in Greece were not disclosed, however, the university does routinely offer Health Care programs in the area. A Thursday morning update said there had been no reported violence in Jerusalem but said tensions are always higher on Fridays as Muslims gather on the Temple Mount, or Haram esh Sharif, for noon...

After a week of war between Israel and Gaza, the BYU Jerusalem Center is evacuating students and faculty to Greece, where studies will resume, the center announced Friday morning. “The Jerusalem Center Fall 2023 Program is currently relocating to Greece,” center officials said in a two-sentence security update. “In addition to the 93 students and faculty, faculty families and service couples will also relocate to Greece.” Students had sheltered and studied in place on the center’s campus during the first week of the war, which began Saturday. Field trips were...