— Holy Land Councillor News
Cardinal Pizzaballa Launches Within Your Gates
September 7, 2026
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem is launching an interdisciplinary academic forum with the University of Notre Dame, dedicated to imagining a better future for all of Jerusalem.
Dear Knights and Dames,
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has announced a new academic initiative that will put scholars at the center of its mission. On September 7, His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa will formally launch Within Your Gates: The Forum for the Universal Vocation of Jerusalem, developed in partnership with the University of Notre Dame’s academic center in Jerusalem.
The Forum will bring together scholars and practitioners from different faith traditions and disciplines to engage with the city’s universal mission, exploring themes such as the theological significance of Jerusalem, the language of conflict and reconciliation, and agency under conditions of constraint. It will be led by Dr. Daniel Schwake and rests on more than three years of close cooperation with the Catholic university.
“The mission of earthly Jerusalem is to become the image and mirror of heavenly Jerusalem, a prophecy and promise of that universal reconciliation and peace which God desires for the whole human family. It is to this mission that we must return.”
The launch event in Jerusalem will feature leading scholars and practitioners who serve on the Forum’s Board of Promoters or Advisory Committee. The Forum’s website, withinyourgates.org, is already live with more information about the initiative and the event.
