Pierbattista Pizzaballa OFM (born 21 April 1965) is an Italian Catholic prelate who has served as Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem since 6 November 2020.

He earned his bachelor's degree in theology at the Pontifical University Antonianum and was ordained a priest on 15 September 1990, in the Cathedral of Bologna by Cardinal Giacomo Biffi.

[6] In June 2014 Pope Francis entrusted Pizzaballa with organizing the peace prayer in the Vatican gardens, which brought together Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

[5] On 24 June 2016, Pope Francis nominated Pizzaballa as Apostolic Administrator sede vacante of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and appointed him titular archbishop of Verbe.

[7] The appointment of an Italian broke with tradition, as such posts are normally assigned to members of the ethnic group they predominantly serve, such as his immediate predecessors (a Palestinian and Jordanian respectively).

[14] On 16 October 2023, he condemned Hamas' actions as barbaric and offered himself as a hostage in exchange for captive Israeli children held in Gaza during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war.

[19] He cosigned the Christmas message released by the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem advocating Christians to refrain from public celebration of the holiday in solidarity with those affected by the war.