The Pope’s visit to Israel, which concludes today, has been full of historical significance. As the centrepiece of his stay, Pope Francis met with Patriarch Bartholomew in Jerusalem to mark the 50th anniversary of the historic meeting between Pope Pius VI and Patriarch Athenagoras, which established relations between the Western and Eastern Churches for the first time since the Great Schism of 1054.

But alongside the historic importance of the visit, it has a contemporary significance as well. In particular, it highlights two critical lessons for the region at this time.

First, the visit brings into sharp focus the troubling situation in which Christians are finding themselves across the Middle East. The Christian share of the Middle East’s population declined from 10 per cent in 1900 to only 5 per cent in 2010, and the situation has only worsened since. The “Arab Spring” has provoked a major Christian exodus, with 100,000 Christians leaving Egypt and 450,000 fleeing Syria.

At the same time, Christianity is facing an existential crisis in Iraq, as over a million Christians have been driven from their homes over the last decade. Those Christians who remain are suffering persecution and discrimination to an unprecedented degree, while Christian holy sites are being plundered and destroyed.

Sadly, in visiting Israel, Pope Francis is visiting the only country in the Middle East with a growing Christian population. Israel’s Christian community has increased from 34,000 in 1948 to 140,000 today, owing in large part to the religious freedoms enshrined since the Declaration of Independence.

Read the article in full at the Daily Telegraph.