“We are all called to be poor, to strip us of ourselves; and to do this we must learn how to be with the poor, to share with those who lack basic necessities, to touch the flesh of Christ! The Christian is not one who speaks about the poor, no! He is one who encounters […]

It’s a wonderful story of affinity between two pairs of spouses, one from Italy and one from Jerusalem, who do not even know each another. Marisa and Francesco tell us that, on their 50th wedding anniversary together with their children, grandchildren and relatives, they remembered their brothers in the Holy Land and decided to give […]

While the final stages of the Church of All Nations project, launched more than a year ago and coordinated by ATS pro Terra Sancta and the Mosaic Centre Jericho, are taking place in Jerusalem, a photographic exhibition entitled “Gethsemane, preserving the past and shaping the future” has just been inaugurated in Rovereto (Italy). The exhibition […]

We publish immediately below the lovely letter sent by the Trappist sisters living in Syria, near Tartous (in the west of the country, close to the Lebanese border), to their Order. Words full of spirit, which ask for for continued prayers for peace and for people to become involved so that they will feel their […]

The sixth day for the Holy Land associations will take place on Saturday 19 October 2013 in Rome’s Auditorium Antonianum and serves as the annual meeting between the Custody of the Holy Land and the voluntary associations which support projects there. The meeting has been organised by Edizioni Terra Santa in collaboration with ATS pro Terra […]

On Saturday evening a cry demanding the gift of Peace, above all in Syria, was heard all over the world. In St. Peter’s Square in Rome, in front of thousands of people in prayer, Pope Francis declared: “When man thinks only of himself, of his own interests and places himself in the center, when he […]

The crisis afflicting the Syrian population shows no sign of letting up. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres has stated that “We have not seen a refugee outflow escalate at such a frightening rate since the Rwandan genocide almost 20 years ago ”. Some figures: 7  million people in need of humanitarian assistance; 4.5 […]

José Carlos is a young engineer from Albacete (Spain) who decided to spend his summer holiday as a volunteer in the Holy Land. For somewhat more than a month he has been working at the Technical Office of the Custody of the Holy Land as part of the project “Jerusalem, Stones of Memory”, and these […]

ATS pro Terra Sancta will once again be present at the Rimini Meeting, thank to the support of Compagnia delle Opere, Meseuro Foundation and Rimini Meeting Foundation. The event will take place from 18 to 24 August and will have as its theme “The Human Person: A State of Emergency”. The focus of the encounters and […]

“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible”.  Saint Francis of Assisi. YOU TOO can take part in the mission the Franciscans have been undertaking in the Holy Land for many centuries to preserve the Holy Places and support the local Christian communities. With only a small contribution, we can do […]

The site www.getsemane-en.custodia.org offers in-depth and updated contents in four languages (Italian, English, Spanish and French), along with a rich gallery of images that can easily be downloaded. The thematic sections, organized in a simple and intuitive manner, accompany the visitor in his or her discovery and understanding of one of the most important places in […]

An additional 35 homes renovated and 80 families supported thanks to the recently-concluded ATS pro Terra Sancta project “Housing and Social Emergency in the Old City of Jerusalem”, carried out with financing from Italian Development Cooperation, as part of its program “Emergency intervention in support of the vulnerable Palestinian population”, and the Custody of the Holy […]

A small church, in a village just a few kilometers from Nazareth and Mount Tabor, commemorates the episode of the Widow of Nain, recounted in the Gospel of Luke, in which Jesus brought her son back to life. Today the church, which belongs to the Custody of the Holy Land and had previously been abandoned […]

Last week, the six young workers involved in the restoration of the Gethsemane Basilica’s mosaics were given the opportunity to attend a lecture by guest of honor Professor Alessandro Lugari of the Special Superintendence for the Archaeological Heritage in Rome. The renowned Italian mosaic artist had previously collaborated with the laboratory responsible for the creation […]

A number of the workers from the maintenance team of the Custody’s Technical Office, involved in the project “Jerusalem, Stones of Memory”, are currently in Nazareth to complete a series of maintenance interventions within the Franciscan Monastery. At the request of Father Ricardo, Guardian of the monastery, three different groups of workers have taken turns […]

From Egypt, where the situation keeps endangering people lives, Father Vincenzo Ianniello, who has been living in Cairo for years, shares his account: “People are really in a state of absolute poverty, about half of the population lives in this situation, they really do not have food. They’re in need of everything“. We need to […]

Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa has been reappointed for a further three-year term as Custos of the Holy Land. The news was announced this morning by the General Visitor of the Custody of the Holy Land fra Renato Beretta, who in his letter sent to all the religious of the Custody of the Holy Land wrote: “The […]

“When Father F. arrived to the monastery he found the frightened sisters, and the murdered friar on the ground.” Father François Mourad died yesterday in Ghassanieh, in Syria, inside a Franciscan monastery where he had sought refuge some time ago. The circumstances of his death are still not very clear. According to one version a […]

From Savona to Bethlehem: yet another sign of the friendship of Italian children towards Palestinian children from the town of Jesus. The support from the schools in Savona for the children of the Terra Sancta School of Bethlehem began last year with a series of exchanges of letters and drawings. Now it is continuing with […]

In the midst of a very complex and difficult socio-political situation, that of the Gaza Strip, where people are suffering from lack of freedom in various areas, many children are experiencing traumas and behavioral problems arising from the situation of conflict in which they have grown up. These children are at risk of bearing for […]