Choose God’s ways, not the world’s, Holy Land custos writes in Easter message
April 03, 2026
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CWN Editor's Note: In his Easter message, the custos (Franciscan provincial) of the Holy Land contrasted God’s ways and the world’s ways.
“The judgment of the world sees in the cross a defeat, a loss, a humiliation, a folly; the judgment of God, with the resurrection, proclaims that precisely there true wisdom manifests itself, there true victory manifests itself: the victory of the love that gives itself without reserve,” said Father Francesco Ielpo, O.F.M.
Father Ielpo added:
In this land, where even today we experience the weight of war, of violence, of fear, and of uncertainty, the resurrection of Christ is not a distant word, but a concrete fact that asks us to change our gaze: not to let ourselves be determined by the judgment of the world, but to learn to read history with the eyes of God. Easter invites us to believe that renouncing violence is not weakness, that forgiving is not a defeat, that death is not the end.
In the 14th century, the Holy See entrusted the care of the holy sites in the Holy Land to the Franciscan order. Father Ielpo became custos in 2025.
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