We all gave a sigh of relief, a year and a half ago, when televisions around the world were broadcasting images of the people of Aleppo celebrating the freedom reached after months of fighting in the martyr city. We had hoped, perhaps for a moment, that it would all be over soon. That we could  […]

Daniel, an 18-year-old boy from Bethlehem, has had problems with school in the past: he did not want to study anymore. But when he was told about the new technological course that was about to open in his school, he immediately registered. Daniel is one of the twelve boys attending the new technological course at […]

For years now, ATS pro Terra Sancta has been working with the Mosaic Center in Samaria to support the local population through restoration, enhancement, reception and development projects. Projects and activities that would not find support if there were not the strength of women who contribute their lives to make their communities live. Maha Hawari […]

“The situation is really extremely critical. Only today at least 40 shells rained down on Damascus… Starting from tomorrow we will be forced to stay in our homes, it is really too risky to move around Bab Touma these days”. The message form Ayham, of the Association pro Terra Sancta in Syria to his colleague […]

“I never left my home”. Roza is 73 and still lives alone in an old house in the Old City of Jerusalem. “For over a hundred years my family has always lived here and these walls for me are everything”. But there were many water infiltrations and often Rosa had to use buckets to collect […]

Basel * wakes up every night with the fear of being hit by a missile. His father was mutilated three years ago and now has prosthetics instead of his hand and legs. “He is blind – says little Basel – because he also lost his eyes during the war. He is always angry and sometimes […]

To reproduce using what is already there. Tiles found in storage, earthenware pots and hollow bricks are just some of the elements that are being used by the restorers of the team Restauratori Senza Frontiere Italia (“Restorers Without Borders”), who have come to Jerusalem to repair the mortar in the stone walls of the archaeological […]

“Teacher slowly slowly !” Says Ahmad, while with a white coat and a syringe in his hand he intervenes on an old vine trunk. With him, Ayman is drawing the relief and Bashar is weighing a solvent on a scale. They are just some of the workers who work on the restoration of an ancient […]

“Everyone has walked in his life and the journey is part of Faith“. Pietro Labate has been working as an environmental guide in central Italy for thirty years. Recently he was in the Holy Land to draw new routes between Jericho, Bethany and Jerusalem for the new project of the Association pro Terra Sancta: Welcoming […]

In 2016, Christmas in Aleppo was marked by the liberation of a city that has suffered much during the endless Syrian conflict. The hope brought by the liberation of the city, grew timidly in 2017: some activities have resumed and some destroyed apartments have been rebuilt, thanks to your valuable support through the Association pro […]

At Christmas the nativity scene is set up and reproduced in the cribs, all over the world. The Grotto of the Baby Jesus represents the heart of this sacred and popular representation. In our days there are still people living in Bethlehem, that every year rush towards the manger as it happened more than 2.000 […]

There is no child in the world who does not wait for Christmas. But how do the children of Bethlehem live it, the city where Jesus was born? “Even today, an angel has arrived in this house. Thank you so much!”. Hana, 22, has just received from us a month’s voucher to buy milk for […]

“I wish you all to be touched not only in front of the baby boy of the crib, but in front of every child in flesh and blood”. The wish of Fr. Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land and our President, this year has pushed us to dedicate the Christmas campaign of  the Association […]

Following a proposal made many years ago by the great Franciscan archaeologist, Fr. Michele Piccirillo, today Maurizio Enrico Villa has decided to export the art of the crib from Italy to the Holy Land. In 2016 Maurizio had already made a crib for the Christian community of Madaba, Jordan, but this time he accepted a […]

“We live in the hands of Providence”, with these words Father José Maria Falo Espés starts telling us about his life experience as the Guardian of the Franciscan shrine of the Sheperds’ Field in Beit Sahur. Fr. José is Spanish, from Saragoza, and has lived for a long time in Valencia from where he brought […]

The last stop of our trip to Syria is the most painful and surprising one. The wounds of war are still very visible. Yet Aleppo is trying to cure them, to become even more beautiful than before. The road to Damascus is still long, the interruption of the freeway leaves no other way to go […]

We arrive in Damascus after sunset and the show is amazing: that of an illuminated city. Only six months ago it seemed impossible, but electricity does not seem to be a big problem anymore. As we approach the Franciscan Monastery, the impression we had at the beginning is confirmed: the city has finally returned to […]

“This new house is a stroke of God to my life.” Mrs. Mayada kept on repeating it while she showed us her house. She told us when she welcomed us, clasping our hand with both hands, and bowing slightly; and she repeated it as she led us to her brand new white balcony, to show […]

“The museum will be a source of social development for the local population”: this is one of the goals set by the former Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa (currently the Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem) when the project of the Terra Sancta Museum was presented in Jerusalem in 2013. […]

Aleppo was a great city, then came death and blood, and destruction. But there are also many signs of a great hope. Monsignor Abou Khazen, Bishop of the Latin Church of Aleppo, met the staff of the Association pro Terra Sancta. He spoke about one of the most destroyed cities in the Syrian conflict, now […]