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Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/02/20/catholics-zionists-prejean-owens/
I Am a Catholic and a Zionist
(Washington Post) R.R. Reno - In early February, at a meeting of a White House commission on religious liberty, one of its members, Carrie Prejean Boller, declared, "Catholics do not embrace Zionism." In fact, the Catholic Church advances no specific teaching on Zionism. When it comes to the world's mechanisms for governing, we're free to support what we think best, given theological principles, moral considerations, and historical realities. For this reason, a Catholic can be a Zionist - or not. I am a Catholic and a Zionist. My position is that the Jewish people are justified in establishing a sovereign nation in the land of their ancestors. Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, argued that Jews must seek a place in which to constitute themselves as a sovereign nation. Only then would the Jewish people be able to ensure their survival, free from persecution. Hitler's Final Solution would prove him right. I believe the presence of a Jewish state in the Holy Land is fitting for a simple reason: If God in his providence wishes to preserve the Jewish people in their own sovereign nation, it makes more sense that it would be in the biblical land of their origins than in Arizona or Tahiti. In affairs of state, the most important norm is peace. This norm strongly favors support for established states. The State of Israel exists. Undermining its legitimacy and aiding those who seek its destruction is far more likely to lead to widespread violence and inhumanity than its continued existence, whatever one thinks of the circumstances of the nation's founding or its present policies. I have a final reason for being a Catholic who is a Zionist: I am a patriotic American. The State of Israel is my country's best ally. Zionism is not a religious obligation; it is a consequence of thinking clearly. The writer is an American theologian, political philosopher and the editor of First Things magazine. He was formerly a professor of theology and ethics at Creighton University.