[From Terrasanta.net] On Oct. 10th the Franciscan has been brought back to the convent of Knayeh and he is doing well. The pastor of the Latin Church in a village in northern Syria, was kidnapped on the night between October 5th and 6th by militants of the Jahbat Al-Nusra group. The friar cannot leave the […]

“My name is Ruggiero and I am a violinist, a member of the orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. I have recently returned with a group of ten people from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land organized by my parish in Rome. The trip was a very moving experience for a variety of […]

On the night of 5 October a number of rebels linked to Al-Nusra Jahbat entered the Convent of St. Joseph in Knayeh, near the Turkish border, and kidnapped the Franciscan parish priest Father Hanna Jallouf and also abducted a number of civilians. The Franciscan sisters who were in the convent have taken refuge in local […]

Umm George, of Armenian origin, is a septuagenarian Iraqi woman who escaped from the war in the 1990s to take care of her husband who had been injured during the first Gulf War. She then remained as a widow in Jordan, lacking the financial resources to return to Iraq, where a month ago she was […]

Set on a hill in the high ground that surrounds Bethlehem, the Antonian Charitable Society building is one of those hidden but appealing oases of the city in which Jesus was born. The facility is home to lodgings for the elderly and, close by, a small refuge. It is in this setting, with a view […]

The new headquarters of Association pro Terra Sancta has been officially inaugurated in Milan. The new premises, located in the monastery on the piazza Sant’Angelo, was blessed by padre Francesco Bravi, Provincial Superior of the Order of Friars Minor of Milan. Present at the blessing on Friday 26 September were fra Renato Del Bono, guardian […]

There is now an additional factor binding the Holy Land with Italy, and in particular with the small town of Bronzolo in the province of Bolzano. A two-day meeting in Bronzolo, in fact, marked the beginning of a new intervention to restore the mosaics of Dominus Flevit, on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Following […]

The new site on making legacies in favor of the Holy Land is now online. It is intended for those who wish to plan ahead and make a final gesture that will have a lasting impact; for those who wish to enter into the history of the Holy Land. To leave a part of one’s […]

On 22 and 23 September Carla Benelli, coordinator of cultural and training projects for Association pro Terra Sancta, Tommaso Saltini, the director of the Association, and Osama Hamdan, President of Mosaic Centre Jericho, will meet in Milan with the managers of two foundations that deal with quality craftsmanship. The first is the Fondazione Giovanni e […]

Within the Saint Saviour’s complex in Jerusalem, the main headquarters of the mission of the Custody of the Holy Land, work is ongoing to restore the ancient structures of the Franciscan monastery and to give them a new function. In addition to restoring houses for the Christians of the Holy City, the team of workers is […]

After his recent visit to Syria, Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa – Custodian of the Holy Landand president of the Association pro Terra Sancta –explains what he has seen in the massacred city of Aleppo. In his words we can find hope, and we hear that it is still possible, in an ocean of suffering and violence, […]

Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Custos of the Holy Land and President of the Association pro Terra Sancta, took part on Sunday 24th August 2014 in the 35th edition of the Meeting for friendship amongst Peoples, held in Rimini (Italy), which this year had the theme “Towards the peripheries of the world and of existence. Destiny has not […]

“I just returned to the Parish in Gaza and the situation that I have found is even worse than I imagined”. These are the words by Father Mario da Silva, superior of the community of the Incarnate Word in Gaza, who lives in the parish of the Sacred Family together with Father Jorge Hernandez, the […]

Tuesday morning (29th of July) after the residents of Al-Zeitun ─Eastern quarter of Gaza City where the Catholic parish of the Holy Family is also located─ received instructions to evacuate, a bombing carried out by the Israeli army struck a house that was very close to the parish. The damage is huge: the adjacent parish school, […]

The Franciscan province of Syria was established in 1217, when Saint Francis sent Brother Elias of Assisi. Today in Syria there  are different parishes run by the Franciscan fathers, in different cities and villages.

While an agreement is being sought to stop the bombing of Gaza and launching of missiles into Israel, the humanitarian organizations present in Gaza have set up camps for the injured and for families who have lost their homes. If before the outbreak of hostilities life in the Gaza Strip was difficult, now it has […]

“It’s a joy seeing the children smile – states Sister Anna, coordinator of the summer camp in Bethlehem – as these activities allow them to have fun and at the same time to grow their faith.” This is the summer camp experience at the Franciscan parish of Bethlehem, organised at the premises of Catholic Action, […]

The Middle East is not familiar with truce. The humanitarian emergencies are still in full on more fronts than ever, the number of dead and injured keeps growing everyday and it is difficult to see a glimmer of anything other than violence. The sky of Gaza is again being lit up by bombs. Yesterday a […]

The initiative ‘From the children of Zielonka, to the children of Syria‘ has just ended in the primary schools of Zielonka, close to Varsavia (Poland). The aim of the initiative, which took place during Lent, was for the pupils to express their closeness to the Syrian children who are currently suffering enormously due to the […]

Since 2011, the Catholic University of Milan has been working alongside the Custody of the Holy Land on a project designed to value the ancient resources of the San Salvatore library in Jerusalem. Named “Books as a bridge to peace”, it focuses on initiatives which promote the conservation and raised awareness of the Franciscan library’s […]