The focus for the first Middle East Analysis podcast of 2016, featuring Ekklesia associate Dr Harry Hagopian, is the Holy Land Coordination – a week long pilgrimage made by Catholic bishops from ac

The focus for the first Middle East Analysis podcast of 2016, featuring Ekklesia associate Dr Harry Hagopian, is the Holy Land Coordination – a week long pilgrimage made by Catholic bishops from across Europe, North America and South Africa to visit and support the local Christian communities of the region.

This year, the visit took place from 7-14 January and saw the delegation spend just over 24 hours in Gaza before returning to Bethlehem to visit the Christian community of Beit Jala and to witness the latest developments in the Cremisan Valley. More on that ‘incident’ in the podcast.

The bishops then traveled to Amman, Jordan, to meet with Iraqi refugees and the Christian NGOs working alongside them.

The podcast, produced by James Abbott for the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales (CBCEW), features Bishop Declan Lang, the CBCEW Chair of International Affairs and the bishop who led the Holy Land delegation.

You can listen to the audio using the SoundCloud player. You can also use the download arrow on the player to save to your PC/Mac/tablet or phone. Full links here: http://www.catholicnews.org.uk/mena-2016-pod-1

Harry Hagopian is an international lawyer, ecumenist and EU political consultant. He also acts as a MENA and inter-faith advisor to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales. He is an Ekklesia associate and regular contributor (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/HarryHagopian). Formerly Executive Secretary of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Committee and Executive Director of the Middle East Council of Churches, he is now an international fellow, Sorbonne III University, Paris, and author of The Armenian Church in the Holy Land. Dr Hagopian’s own website is www.epektasis.net – follow him on Twitter here: @harryhagopian and on Facebook here: https://m.facebook.com/MENA.analysis/