Lots of gathered on the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem within the West Financial institution because the chief of the Catholic Church within the Holy Land marked the second Christmas Midnight Mass beneath the shadow of the warfare in Gaza.
Lots of of worshippers, each Palestinians and foreigners, attended the Midnight Mass on the Church of Nativity within the West Financial institution.
The common cheering was absent, and no Christmas tree or decorations lined the partitions of the Church, broadly revered because the birthplace of Jesus, as a result of ongoing warfare in Gaza.
The Head of the Catholic Church within the Holy Land, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa was current on the church.
Earlier than the mass, Israeli authorities allowed a uncommon Gaza go to by Cardinal Pizzaballa for the mass, to rejoice a pre-Christmas Mass with Gaza’s small Christian neighborhood, because the ever-present buzz of Israeli drones continued sounding exterior.
Talking on the warfare, Pizzaballa stated “warfare is horrible with all the results of division, and we’re within the place the place divisions are very evident additionally from the structural perspective. To undergo, the that means is that it’s potential even the place there are huge and troublesome partitions – it is potential to simply move them if we wish.”
Pizzaballa continued saying “and we wish, particularly for this Christmas, we wish to inform our individuals to not lose hope. It is potential additionally to interrupt down probably the most troublesome wall, the hatred, the division, the contempt, and the dearth of justice and dignity that we’re experiencing right here.”
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem’s go to to Gaza got here as Pope Francis once more criticised Israel’s actions in its ongoing warfare.
Christmas time is normally one in every of excessive tourism for the historic metropolis of Bethlehem. The yearly non secular celebration, shared amongst Armenian, Catholic and Orthodox denominations are normally main boons for town. Greater than two million vacationers and pilgrims normally go to the birthplace of Jesus, accounting for greater than 70% of town’s yearly revenue.
However this yr, the streets are empty and there are nearly no vacationers. The cardinal stated he hopes to see this reversed subsequent yr, and as soon as once more witness the Holy Land crowded with pilgrims, “the Church of the Holy Land, the Church of Jerusalem, with out pilgrims just isn’t full”.
“I’ve to say that Christmas in Bethlehem is at all times good, however this time is the second yr we have now a tragic Christmas in Bethlehem” stated Pizzaballa.
Reflecting a message of hope, Pizzaballa says he hopes to see the largest Christmas tree within the metropolis, and witness the festivities and cheering of this joyous interval, restored to the holy metropolis.
Echoing the identical message is Anton Salman, Mayor of Bethlehem. Salman says the message of town to the world is at all times one in every of peace and hope. Salman says the world additionally should work to reciprocate that message on the Palestinian territories.
“The world should work to finish our struggling as Palestinian individuals, to finish the occupation and to offer us our rights and to offer us the chance to realize our id, our independence, our freedom, and to guard us from the hazards that attributable to the continual of the Israeli occupation.”
Bethlehem is a crucial heart within the historical past of Christianity, however Christians make up solely a small proportion of the roughly 14 million individuals unfold throughout the Holy Land.
