21 April 2019
«Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me so I am sending you» Happy Easter!

In occasion of this Holy Easter we want to share with you the Easter message of Fr. Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land and President of the Association pro Terra Sancta. We are in the Cenacle, on Mount Zion, in the place where Jesus ate the Last Supper with His disciples, and there gave […]

18 April 2019
Jerusalem comes to London for a new Museum to celebrate the launch of a new UK Charity.

Pro Terra Sancta UK hosted its launch event yesterday to raise funds to complete the new Terra Sancta museum in the old city of Jerusalem. The museum aims to “Build a bridge of peace” . London, United Kingdom – 5th April 2019 – Pro Terra Sancta UK, a new UK charity set up to support […]

15 April 2019
Aleppo: forgiveness and charity to rebuild peace

Aleppo. The general winter delivers the last blows to a city that desperately needs spring. This year too many died from the cold. The queues at the petrol stations promise nothing good, and confirm the sad intuition with which we arrived from Damascus. Another city on its knees, without fuel, without electricity. At night the […]

8 April 2019
Damascus. The long way towards recovery and the new enemies of Syria

“Absolutely no! War has not come to an end yet, it has just begun. ” Perhaps the enemies are no longer called Daesh or Al Qaeda, but hunger and poverty, tand these are enemies that are equally scary. They are the enemies that international politics can arm in a more silent and sneaky way, without […]

1 April 2019
A lovely place to stay: the great experience of the Dar Al Majus Guesthouse in Bethlehem

“The place is magnificent: the rooms are beautiful and the service is excellent!” It is just one of the many reviews on the guesthouse “Dar al Majus” (in Arabic House of the three Kings), the structure run by th Association pro Terra Sancta in partnership with the Mosaic Centre in Bethlehem. Located around ten meters […]

25 March 2019
Sebastia: new spaces for sustainable and responsible tourism

The Guesthouse in the city center returns under the management of the Mosaic Center and ATS pro Terra Sancta Looking at an old photograph of Sebastia from the beginning of the 20th century it is hard to believe that, among the houses of this small village, an archaeological heritage of inestimable value is hidden. In […]

19 March 2019
Christian celebrations in the Holy Land

If you ever had the opportunity to spend some time in the Holy Land, you were probably a little disappointed when you found practically all the shops and restaurants run by Jews, closed on Saturday. Or you might have wanted to sleep an extra hour on Sunday, but you probably had to give up on […]

18 March 2019
Syria, nine years later: the crisis has just begun

“The crisis in Syria is not over yet; let’s say that it has just begun ”. Father Ibrahim Alsabagh, pastor of the church of St. Francis in Aleppo, said this a few days ago and we, while the country is entering its ninth year of war, we can only repeat it with force: the crisis […]

8 March 2019
The women of the Holy Land and the treasures kept for generations

Knowledge, flavors and … soaps! with these three words we could symbolically summarize the many projects of ATS pro Terra Sancta that strictly involve the Palestinian women; know how all the actions of the association are developed starting from a deep research and attention of the Palestinian traditions: research and sharing of knowledge, to develop […]

4 March 2019
Jerusalem: a cozy nursery for children in need

Along the famous shopping street of the Mamilla Mall, amid luxury shops and jewelers, stands the façade of an imposing neo-Romanesque church that is part of the hospice of the Daughters of Charity of the order of Saint Vincent de Paul built in 1885 to treat leprosy patients. Yet since its early years, the structure […]

26 February 2019
Rhodes: bringing help to those “nobody wants to know”

The sea that shapes the island of Rhodes, one of the most fascinating of the Dodecanese, knows it. It knows how many millions of men and women have landed on his coasts over the centuries, who to stop on the island, who for a short stop before leaving and those who drowned in search of […]

18 February 2019
Bethany: “A culture of dialogue as the path to follow”

“We declare the adoption of a culture of dialogue as the path; mutual cooperation as the code of conduct; reciprocal understanding as the method and standard”.In Bethany, the Pope‘s words in the document signed with the Grand Imam of Al Azhar in Abu Dhabi are reality. Here three different confessions (Catholic, Orthodox and Islamic communities) […]

12 February 2019
Schools in the Holy Land: where the encounter between St. Francis and the Sultan continues everyday

“The Sultan was one of the most powerful men of the time, a formidable military strategist, and a mind open to culture and arts. Francis was simply a man who felt called by God to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, to live the Gospel, and to proclaim it peacefully to every creature. The two dialogue, […]

4 February 2019
“We are lambs among wolves”: The witness of Fr. Hanna from the province of Idlib

“We are lambs among wolves. Literally. Every evening we entrust our life to the Lord before sleeping, because we are very worried. Yet the next morning we wake up and see that our prayers have been fulfilled … In the same way we feel the power of your prayers for us. The Lord does not […]

28 January 2019
Books bridges of peace in Jerusalem: meeting and sharing with the students of the Hebrew University

Culture and books as a meeting occasion. This was demonstrated by the study day of January 16th, organized by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem at the Convent of San Salvatore. The Custody of the Holy Land hosted 30 boys, mostly Jews, from the Winter School of the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies who participated in […]

21 January 2019
A mosaic of art and humanity: restorers from Trento in Bethany to form the young boys and girls of the Mosaic Center

“From the observation of the mosaic we have deduced the best method to restore it. There is a solution to every problem: a lesson in work and life “. Paula tells us about her experience: together with other students from the Mosaic Center in Jericho and to the new students of the mosaic course in […]

14 January 2019
Story of the JACC, the centre supporting African refugees in Jerusalem

In Israel there is a refugee “emergency” as well. It’s different from the one Europe is facing, of course, but significant. The largest waves of migration began at the end of the nineties and early 2000 due to the Eritrean independence on one side and the start of the dictatorial and military regime of Isaias […]

7 January 2019
We go back home with Bethlehem our hearts: speaking the young volunteers from Italy

For all Italian volunteersnand workers who live in Bethlehem, Christmas also means “tombolata”. As usual in the rooms of the Hotel Casanova, after the Mass and a moment of reflection, we find ourselves for a dinner, rigorously of Italian cuisine, and immediately after one of the most awaited moments for adults and children: the game […]

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24 December 2018
Bethlehem: after 2000 years, the beauty and simplicity of an event that changed humanity

Once more it’s Christmas time in Bethlehem, the whole city lights up for a party and it’s general cleaning. What once was a small town on the back of a hill looking towards the desert of Judah today is a large city that in its overall area welcomes, in the daily bustle, almost 200,000 inhabitants. […]

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17 December 2018
Bethlehem, a new home for a Christmas of peace and sharing

Placing the little houses, the sheep and the shepherd’s statues in the Crib, our imagination flies towards distant exotic landscapes, towards that ancient and rural village in the desert that was to be Bethlehem at the time of Jesus. Today, that which in the Gospel text is described as the last of the main cities […]