Christmas this season in the Holy Land will be celebratory despite ongoing bloodshed and war, the Holy Land’s patriarchs said. And while visiting Germany, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, encouraged pilgrims to return to the birthplace of Jesus.
On 3 December, he said he is counting on a rapid normalisation of pilgrimage tourism, especially during the Christmas season, following the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
Pilgrimages and religious tourism are an important economic factor for many Christians in the region, but tourists disappeared and stores across pilgrimage sites have remained closed since 7 October, 2023.
This year, the patriarchs and heads of the churches in Jerusalem, said the war this year won’t stop the joyful celebration of Christmas in the land of Jesus.
Last year, to stand in solidarity with “the multitudes suffering” amid “the newly erupted war,” the patriarchs made “a mutual decision” to call on their congregations “to forego the public display of Christmas lights and decorations” and related festivities.
But they said their intentions were misinterpreted, leading “many around the world” to say they had called for a “‘Cancellation of Christmas’ in the … very place of our Lord’s Holy Nativity.”
Christmas “was diminished not only around the world, but also among our own people,” they wrote 22 November. This year, the patriarchs encouraged all “to fully commemorate the approach and arrival of Christ’s birth by giving public signs of Christian hope.”