On January 17, the Catholic-led Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem issued a statement declaring themselves the sole authority “in matters pertaining to Christian religious, communal, and pastoral life in the Holy Land.”
The statement went further, warning that other Christians advance “damaging ideologies, such as Christian Zionism,” which allegedly mislead the public and harm church unity. These churches view themselves as the rightful heirs of God’s promises, while Jews and Christians who affirm Israel’s enduring covenant are cast as theological disruptors. This Catholic and Vatican-led body includes Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Coptic, Syriac, Ethiopian, and Anglican churches in Jerusalem.
The Vatican-aligned InfoVaticana website defines Christian Zionism “as support for the State of Israel and the Zionist project as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy, framed as a political and cultural agenda.” Yet for many evangelicals, Christian Zionism is simpler and older than modern geopolitics. It rests on the belief that God’s covenant with Israel is enduring and not revoked, and that Israel remains integral to the biblical narrative.
In contrast, Catholicism’s replacement theology was historically openly taught and enforced. Jews were portrayed as rejected, while the Catholic Church was presented as the sole heir of God’s promises, leaving little room for Israel’s ongoing covenantal dignity. That theology did not remain theoretical. It shaped sermons, laws, art, expulsions, and violence.
At Vatican II, the Catholic Church revised its tone without issuing a clear institutional confession that replacement theology was wrong and harmful. However, this statement by the Roman Catholic Church and the Vatican (among others) clearly falls into the category of both replacement theology and denigrating protestants as harmful, misleading and damaging.
Guess what? They quoted Romans 12:5 to justify their position, “we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” Which is the same single verse they use to claim sole authority of the “Church.” In other words, if you are not part of them, you are not of the body of Christ—this is, in and of itself, replacement theology by claiming authority over both Jews and non-Catholic Christians, echoing the very replacement logic the Church insists it has abandoned.
Israel365 News summarized the concern plainly, calling the statement the “Catholic Church’s most direct assault yet on the millions of evangelical Christians whose biblical interpretation leads them to support the Jewish state,” and condemning Christians who support the Jewish people’s return to their ancestral homeland. They also are calling the blessing of Israel a “damaging ideology.” If Romans is the battleground, one isolated verse should not be used.
Chapters 9-12 are a master class on God’s concept of unity. Gentiles were grafted into the Jewish root, not the other way around, and Paul issues a warning that should sober every institution claiming spiritual primacy: “For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee.”
Sources:
https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/54159