Pope Francis Unveils Baby Jesus in a Keffiyeh
On Saturday, Pope Francis attended a nativity scene crafted in Bethlehem, Israel, by Johny Andonia and Faten Nastas Mitwasi and presented by Palestinian officials in Pope Paul VI Hall in Vatican City. The display depicting the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem featured Baby Jesus lying on a Keffiyeh, a traditional Arab head covering for men that PLO leader Yasser Arafat appropriated as a symbol of Palestinian terrorism.
Speaking at the event, a wheelchair-bound Francis called on Catholics to “remember the brothers and sisters, who, right there [in Bethlehem] and in other parts of the world, are suffering from the tragedy of war,” adding, “enough war, enough violence!” and lamenting the existence of the commercial arms trade.
“Enough with wars, enough of violence!”, he said.
Representatives from the “Embassy of the State of Palestine” to the Vatican attended the audience. Two Palestinian children also presented Pope Francis with a “Star of Bethlehem” plaque reading “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men” in Arabic and Latin.
According to Vatican News, the keffiyeh-draped cradle, which will be displayed in the Paul VI Hall, is one of a series of nativity scenes collectively titled “Nativity of Bethlehem 2024. ” The scenes were designed by artists Johny Andonia and Faten Nastas Mitwasi, both Palestinians from Bethlehem.
The creation and display of the plaque and nativity scene were organized by the Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine, an organ of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and the Palestinian embassy to the Vatican. Joining the pope in presiding over the scene’s dedication on Sunday was PLO executive committee member and the head of the Palestinian Committee for Church Affairs, Ramzi Khouri, who conveyed “warm greetings” from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Khouri expressed “deep gratitude for the pope’s unwavering support for the Palestinian cause and his tireless efforts to end the war on Gaza and promote justice,” according to a PLO press release.
The project was overseen by Mitri Raheb, a Lutheran Pastor in Bethlehem, who preaches that modern Jews are descended from an “East European tribe who converted to Judaism in the Middle Ages” and have no historical connection to the land of Israel. He claims that modern Palestinians are the true descendants of King David and Jesus.
Following the unveiling, Ibrahim Faltas, an Egyptian Franciscan friar and deputy custodian of the Holy Land, led a Mass for peace and a ceasefire in Palestine at the Angeli Chapel.
While Islam reveres Jesus as a non-divine prophet of Mohammad, the “Palestinian” movement has rewritten history, portraying Jesus as a Palestinian. It is believed that the credo was an invention of Yasser Arafat’s adviser Hanan Ashrawi, a Christian, who said in an interview with the Washington Jewish Week on February 22, 2001, that “Jesus was a Palestinian.”
This became the official PLO platform as evidenced by their frequent reference to Jesus as “the first Palestinian martyr” and whose annual Christmas statement reads, “Every Christmas, Palestine celebrates the birth of one of its own: Jesus.”
At a Christmas ceremony in 2019, Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh, the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, referred to Jesus as “a Palestinian guerrilla fighter.”
The narrative was incorporated into Christian theology, depicting Jesus as a secular Social Justice Warrior fighting the “Occupation”. “Liberation Theology” is a twist on classical Christian belief, attempting to base Palestinian resistance to Israel as well as Palestinian national aspirations in the Christian Gospel. It includes an intense valorization of Palestinian ethnic and cultural identity as guarantors of a more accurate grasp of the gospel because they are the true inhabitants of the land of Jesus and the Bible. Liberation Theology defines Jesus as a Palestinian living under Israeli occupation. It defines Christianity as a human rights movement.
In an interview last month about a soon-to-be-published book, Pope Francis called for an investigation into claims that Israel is carrying out a “genocide” in Gaza.
Last year, Pope Francis met with Palestinians whose relatives were security prisoners in Israeli jails or were in Gaza. Members of the Palestinian delegation told the media that the pope had described Israel’s actions as “genocide.”
In September, Pope Francis responded to a question about IDF airstrikes in Lebanon that killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah; he replied that Israel’s airstrikes in Lebanon were going “beyond morality.”
In December, Pope Francis labeled children dying in wars, including in the Gaza Strip, as the “little Jesuses of today,” and said that IDF actions were reaping an “appalling harvest.”
The Vatican supports a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians that would establish an unprecedented militarized Palestinian state inside Israel’s borders that has been ethnically cleansed of Jews, with its capital in an exclusively Muslim Jerusalem.
Pope Francis has a history of being myopic regarding Palestinians and Arabs bent on destroying the Jewish state. In 2015, just a few days after the Vatican officially recognized the Palestinian state, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was granted an audience in the Apostolic Palace. After the meeting, Francis gave Abbas a special medallion, representing the angel of peace “destroying the bad spirit of war.” The Pope explained to Abbas that the gift was appropriate since “you are an angel of peace.”
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