Gaza – 700 Christians in Gaza this year have received permission from Israel to reach Bethlehem and celebrate the Solemnity of Christmas in the place where Jesus was born. But not many will actually be able to reach the cities of the West Bank, given the daily difficulties shared by Christians in Gaza at the end of a year marked by the Israeli military intervention in the Gaza Strip that has caused thousands of deaths. This was reported to Agenzia Fides by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, who on Sunday, December 21 made a pastoral visit to Gaza and celebrated Mass in the parish of the Holy Family.
“I found our Church united” said the Patriarch to Fides “with our faithful who live a strong communion with Orthodox Christians. There is a small group of souls marked by difficult and painful circumstances, who place their hope in Jesus. This is the image of the true Christmas”.
Starting with what he saw in Gaza, His Beatitude Twal widens his gaze to the trials experienced by people throughout the Middle East: “We have always been moved to read in the Gospels that Mary and Joseph found no room in the inn, and that baby Jesus was born in a grotto. Today, among the millions of refugees, there are many children who desire to be able to sleep in a grotto like the one in which the Saviour is born. For them it would be a luxury”.
By: Agenzia Fides
