Catholicism – the largest branch of Christianity in the world – has a history of interaction with Zionism – the Jewish nationalist ideology that began as a movement for a Jewish state in the southern Levant, and which today serves as the "guiding ideology" of its successful creation, the State of Israel.
The relationship between Catholicism and Zionism includes theological, historical, and social aspects, and has sometimes overlapped with Catholic–Jewish relations. The geographic region of Palestine is of profound religious importance to Catholics, who consider it the Holy Land, and of profound national importance to Zionists, through its historical and religious role as the Land of Israel.
The Catholic Church rejects a theological basis for Zionism, and historically opposed it. Nonetheless, the Vatican opened diplomatic relations with the Israeli state in 1993, a decision based in recognition of political and civic reality, rather than on Christian Zionist theology. Today, the Vatican recognizes both Israel and the State of Palestine, and advocates for a two-state solution. Importantly, Catholic doctrine does not formally dictate its adherents' individual political attitudes towards Israel's existence. Therefore, a diversity of worldwide Catholic opinion on the subject exists.
Also of relevance is the role of Catholic figures in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, both in the region and outside it, as well as Israeli attitudes and practices towards the Vatican and local Catholics.
Theological and scriptural discourse
The Land of Israel as divinely ordained
Zionists who are religiously Jewish consider Zionism and Judaism to be inseparable and the former to be a central component of the latter. As evidence, they point to the continuous role of the Land of Israel as the God-given national territory of the Israelite, and later Jewish, people throughout the entire Tanakh; and the concept of a return to the land as a regular feature of religious practices in the Jewish diaspora. Non-Catholic Christian Zionists similarly believe that the land is divinely ordained for the Jews, but that the return of Jewish sovereignty anticipates the Second Coming of Jesus. At the core of these beliefs is the biblical narrative of Genesis 12, where Abraham is selected by God to go to Canaan and become the father of a nation; this is interpreted as the starting point for a divinely ordained Jewish peoplehood in their own defined national territory.
Some elements within the Catholic Church, particularly in Europe and North America, lobby to affirm the Zionist claim over the Land of Israel as theologically valid. Gavin D'Costa, a Catholic Zionist, writes that any attempt by the Church to endorse theologically based Zionism would be met with overwhelming hostility by Christians in the Middle East.
The Land of Israel as not divinely ordained The Catholic Church rejects the premise that the Jewish people have a divine right to possess sovereignty over the Holy Land. The Second Vatican Council's lumen gentium (1964) affirms that the Church is the "new Israel" and "new people of God" that is not bound by ethnicity or blood. In 1985, the Vatican's “Notes on the Correct Presentation of Jews and Judaism” would build on this, declaring that the special relationship between God and the Jewish people remained intact. It also recognized Judaism's perennial connection to the Land of Israel, yet simultaneously affirmed that this connection was religiously irrelevant to Christians:
Therefore, in the Catholic understanding, this continuing relationship between God and the Jewish people still excludes any divine land-based promise–namely, in the present day, the Israeli state's claims–as theologically valid. Rabbi David Rosen has criticized the Church's approach, commenting that if it intends "to fully respect Jewish self-understanding, it is also necessary to appreciate the centrality that the land of Israel plays in the historic and contemporary religious life of the Jewish people and that appears to be missing.
Addressing the question of why possession of the Land of Israel is not viewed by the Catholic Church as part of the "irrevocable" covenant between God and the Jewish people, as stated in Romans 11, Matthew A. Tsakanikas, a Catholic anti-Zionist, writes that:
In the New Testament, part of Christian but not Jewish biblical scripture, the focus on the importance of land that was constant throughout the Old Testament changes in favor of a more spiritual, less geographically defined concept. This is typified by the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-10); heaven being seen as the true Christian homeland (Hebrews 11:13-16); and the bringing down of ethnic and religious borders between the Jews and Gentiles under Jesus (Ephesians 2:14-18).
Catholic anti-Zionism
Catholic anti-Zionism has taken several forms, including opposition to the establishment of Jewish sovereignty in Palestine, rejection of a theological interpretation of Zionism, and criticism of policies associated with the Zionist movement or the State of Israel. Historians have associated the early Vatican position with concern for Christian holy places and Catholic institutions, competition with Protestant powers, the support of some local clergy for Palestinian Arab nationalism, and anti-Jewish assumptions then present in Catholic discourse. Paolo Zanini writes that much of the Catholic establishment in Mandatory Palestine regarded Zionism as a threat to the Arab national cause, the Catholic position at the holy sites, and the continuation of Christian life in the region.
The prospect of British rule also raised concern over Protestant missionary influence. In 1917, the Italian jurist Francesco Scaduto argued that the Holy See privately regarded Muslim government in Palestine as preferable to Protestant rule, since the established arrangements under Muslim authorities were considered less threatening to Catholic interests. This preference was not a general endorsement of Muslim government, but reflected contemporary Catholic rivalry with Protestant missions and concern over control of the Christian holy places.
Following the Balfour Declaration, Pope Benedict XV addressed the future of Palestine in a consistorial allocution of 10 March 1919. He opposed granting the Jewish population a privileged position over Christians and objected to Christian sanctuaries being placed under non-Christian authority. Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri subsequently told the Belgian representative to the Holy See that the Vatican's principal concern was the possible creation of a Jewish state. Gasparri distinguished this from Jewish immigration and the establishment of agricultural settlements, to which he said the Holy See did not object in themselves.
During the period in which the Holy See withheld diplomatic recognition from Israel, the Holy See established formal relations with a number of Muslim-majority states. Relations with Egypt were established in 1947, followed by Indonesia in 1950 and Iran and Syria in 1953. Full diplomatic relations with Israel followed the signing of the Fundamental Agreement in December 1993 and were implemented in 1994. This came only after the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) had already recognized the State of Israel.
Opposition to Catholic or Christian Zionism has remained prominent within the Catholic hierarchy in the Holy Land. At a March 2025 meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan, Bishop William Shomali, the general vicar of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, participated on behalf of Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa. Shomali presented the Catholic Church's rejection of interpretations of the Torah that treat biblical promises as granting the Jewish people an exclusive present-day political entitlement to Palestine, associating this interpretation with American Christian Zionism. He instead characterized the Old Testament as a call to defend the poor and oppressed and to establish justice and peace.
Following an Israeli strike on the Holy Family Church compound in Gaza City in July 2025, Leo said that the attack by the Israeli army added to ongoing military attacks against civilians and places of worship in Gaza, and called for an immediate end to the barbarism of the war. He has also called for the release of hostages held in Gaza, a permanent ceasefire, humanitarian aid, and respect for international humanitarian law. He also appealed for compliance with international humanitarian law, citing prohibitions on collective punishment, indiscriminate force, and forced displacement.
Catholic Zionism The phenomenon of Catholic Zionism emerged after 1948, when the Israeli state was established, and traces its origins to the Second Vatican Council's change in stance concerning the Jewish people. Jimmy Akin writes that despite the Catholic Church's refusal to endorse Zionism on a theological basis, an individual Catholic opining that Jews have a right to the Land of Israel due to God’s promise is "within the realm of permitted theological speculation".
Gavin D'Costa writes that Catholic Zionism has as its theological foundation "the unconditional gift of the election of the Jewish people" and the "biblical vision" of Jewish governance in the Holy Land, but is unique in several ways that distinguish it from traditional Protestant Christian Zionism. According to D'Costa, it affirms that Jewish sovereignty over the Land of Israel is conditional, based on Leviticus 18:28: “If you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.” This differentiates Catholic Zionism from "the eschatological confidence of many Protestants who imagine the State of Israel as the fulfillment of prophecies about the end times." Catholic Zionism is also sympathetic to Palestinian concerns, and envisions Jewish governance in the Holy Land as possible in a binational sense or as part of a larger multinational framework, not having to strictly take the form of the present Israeli nation-state.
In 2025, a rift emerged between Kairos Palestine, which is Catholic-led but composed of Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Palestinians, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). This occurred after the USCCB released a joint publication with the American Jewish Committee which meant to "condemn antisemitism and educate Catholics on antisemitic phrases and beliefs". Kairos Palestine condemned the publication as "theologically and morally wrong" and dismissed a defense of the document by Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the USCCB.
History of the Vatican's political approach to Zionism
Before 1948
Traditional Vatican opposition to Zionism stemmed largely from a theological basis.Catholics, Jews, and the State of Israel (1993), by Anthony J. Kenny. . Theodor Herzl, the secular Jewish founder of modern political Zionism, met with Pope Pius X in the Vatican in 1904, arranged by the Austrian Count Berthold Dominik Lippay, to ascertain the Catholic Church's position on Herzl's prospective project for a Jewish state in Palestine. Pope Pius X told Herzl:
Pope Pius X went on to tell Herzl that the Catholic Church also opposed the acquisition of the "secular lands" of Palestine by the Zionist movement. This laid down some of the key religious components of the Catholic Church's opposition of Zionism which would take on more of a political character as the planning of Jewish state in the Holy Land took place beginning in 1917 with the Balfour Declaration. The Vatican was a strong opponent of the League of Nations' plans for a Jewish state in the Holy Land, believing that the dominance of Judaism over a land sacred to Catholics would be an offense.