Even the Christians in Jerusalem eagerly await the arrival of Christmas. Anyone who wants to find the Christmas atmosphere in the Holy City must go to the Christian or Armenian quarter of the old city. Only here, in fact, can one admire decorations, lights and Christmas decorations on the doors of houses and churches. In […]

The ten Franciscan tertiary sisters, daughters of St. Elizabeth who live in Jerusalem, come from Indonesia, India, Vietnam and Italy. The religious family, born in the upper Casentino area on May 26, 1888, has been on mission in the Holy Land since June 23, 2016. The founders, Mother Francesca Casci and Don Giuseppe Marchi, followed […]

“Why is the sea salty? But all of it? ”, Hussam asks innocently, looking at the sea. He is one of the seven children of the orphanage Jeel al-Amal (Generation of Hope) School and Home for Bethany boys who were hosted by some families of the parish of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Palermo from […]

In recent months winds of war have resumed blowing violently in northern Syria: in the northwest the army of Damascus fights the last jihadist resistance, while since the beginning of October the Turks have invaded the Kurdish area to the northeast. And despite the bombastic news with a flavor of propaganda announcing important achievements on […]

The precious reproduction of a text by a mathematical monk of the late fifteenth century (de Divina proportione) is among the many volumes present in the exhibition dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci in the premises of the Franciscan Custodial Curia. It is a volume by Fra Luca Pacioli (1455-1517), a collaborator of Leonardo Da Vinci […]

“Every musician’s dream is to play all over the world, but how could a Christian not dream of playing in the Holy Land?” These are the words of Luigi Giovanni Maria Panceri, aka Gatto Panceri, at the end of his concert in Jerusalem. The Italian singer-songwriter, born in 1962, performed for crowded fan audience at […]

The hands of Erzsébet Windhager-Gered, a Romanian musician, move swiftly on the keys of the imposing organ of the Church of St. Savior in Jerusalem and the large audience is listening to the powerful melodies resound in the nave. With the notes of Bach, the first of the three Jerusalem events of the sixth edition […]

A moment of exchange to get to know each other better and to understand more deeply Jerusalem and its complex reality in which both associations, ATS pro Terra Sancta and the Jerusalem African Community Center (JACC), operate. This is the meaning of the meeting between Josie Mendelson, director of JACC, accompanied to her collaborators, and […]

It is the second year that the volunteers of the Association of Educators Without Borders (ESF) collaborate with the Association pro Terra Sancta, bringing educational and training activities to some of the social realities of Bethlehem. Founded in 2005 in Milan with the aim of training educators to intervene in contexts of poverty and marginality, […]

In the historic center of Bethlehem, a few steps from the Basilica of the Nativity, many buildings are abandoned and crumbling. At one time these were shops and houses largely owned by Christians who fled the fury of a conflict that still winds silently through the streets of the city where Jesus was born. And […]

Rarely the Jerusalem mosque esplanade has welcomed guests of this type: cardinals, friars, laymen, Christians and others, all lined up to enter one of the most important places of worship in Islam. It happened during the celebrations for the anniversary of the meeting between St. Francis and Sultan Al-Malik Al-Kamil. Carla Benelli, art historian and […]

We are in the courtyard of Sebastia’s Mosaic Guest House. A dance show has just finished and with us there is Yahya, a young man of 24, who at a certain point tells how his adventure with the dabka, the famous Palestinian folk dance, began. Together with two other friends, Yahya is the founder of […]

Since 2008, the Association pro Terra Sancta has supported the charitable activity of the parish of the Holy Family in Gaza. Don Mario Da Silva, pastor of the Latin church engaged for several years in the Strip, told us about the difficulties and problems that have persisted up until now in recent years and require […]

Aleppo. The rubble is easily trampled on in Wartan, a border area that has been the scene of violent clashes. The lights of a warm sunset accompany a small procession that winds through the streets of the city. The frame is sad: houses and buildings destroyed by war, while the sound of drums fills those […]

Since 2011, the Association pro Terra Sancta has been committed to supporting the poorest families in Bethlehem, repairing and replacing domestic plumbing systems and installing solar panels, boilers and water tanks with the aim of making homes habitable. The lack of water is indeed one of the major problems facing Palestinian society on a daily […]

The Middle East Community Program (MECP) 2019, this year, was all-female: nine young female students from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan and from other Italian universities participated in the annual program organized by the Association pro Terra Sancta in collaboration with the Catholic University which ended last September 7th. The summer […]

“Do you use medicinal plants in everyday life? Which plants do you know? Would you know how to recognize them? ”With these questions Andrea Primavera, consultant for development of agronomic techniques for the production of medicinal plants and herbs, began his lecture on officinal plants to the women of the female associations of Bethany Shouruq […]

“For us, being here is a privilege, a unique opportunity that very few of our peers can have right now, so thank you so much.” Speaking is Rand, 25, visiting Italy with Vialet, a few years younger. They are Syrians and come from what, according to a recent ranking of the Economist, is the most […]

The Hogar Niño Dios is a welcome house near the Basilica of the Nativity that hosts children and young people with physical and mental disabilities, orphans or those from poor families. Contextualizing the issue of disability in Palestinian society, we are faced with a critical situation. From a social and cultural point of view, the […]

Here’s the video of the beautiful meeting held at the Rimini Meeting in Italy with Msgr. Abou Khazen, Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo, Fr. Firas Lutfi, Franciscan of the Custody of the Holy Land and director of the Franciscan Care Center and the psychologist Binan Kayyali, on the project One Name and One Future in support […]