26 May 2023
Drops of goodness that overcome evil: our 2022 social report

Behind these figures there are the stories of boys and girls, boys and girls who have seen their right to study and family recognized. Young people and parents who have rediscovered dignity through work and vocational training programs close to the elderly and disabled who with the care and love of so many people are […]

23 May 2023
Syria today: what’s going on? How did it come to this?

On March 15, 2011, in Dara’a, a city in south-east Syria, a bloody war began with tragic humanitarian consequences. It is in this city that several demonstrators rise up with a series of civil protests against the Syrian regime, ruled in a dictatorial manner by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The protests arise from a situation […]

19 May 2023
The luxury of feeding one’s family in Lebanon

«When I can afford it, I buy bananas. They are the cheapest fruits». Il papà libanese Antoine frequenta il nostro centro di emergenza a Tripoli, Libano, e la sua testimonianza sulle difficoltà di portare il cibo quotidiano in tavola è quella di tante famiglie libanesi. In fact, Lebanon has been facing an economic and financial […]

12 May 2023
Excavation and training works resume in Bethany

«Thanks to the collaboration between al-Quds University and the University of Palermo, we are weaving the first degree course in restoration in the Middle East». Carla Benelli , head of cultural projects at Pro Terra Sancta, tells us enthusiastically about how she is currently working in the heart of Bethany. It is here that since […]

28 April 2023
MECP: Discover the Middle East with Pro Terra Sancta

Are you passionate about the political, social, historical, artistic and territorial dimension of the Middle East? Do you want to immerse yourself in the culture and everyday life of the living stones of Israel and Palestine? Then the Middle East Community Program (MECP) is the experience for you.

19 April 2023
The bus of life of Eastern Aleppo

From a distance it would look like just another bus. Old and broken down. In Italy it would probably be scrapped immediately. It almost blends in among the cars parked alongside the rubble. Only the red bodywork stands out in the depressed outskirts of Aleppo. As you get closer, you begin to hear the voices […]

14 April 2023
The exhibition on the Holy Sepulchre arrives in Italy

The Holy Land is a pilgrimage destination for numerous faithful from all over the world who can reach here the pivotal places of the stories recorded in the Gospels. During the Easter season, which has just passed, the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher was the meeting point for all those who wished to relive the […]

7 April 2023
The Feasts of Jerusalem

A loud cannon fire in the middle of the night heralds the beginning of the holy month for Muslims around the world: Ramadan. According to this year’s lunar calendar, the month of fasting and charity began at dawn on March 23 and will end on Friday, April 21. Cannon firing, which is actually a stun […]

31 March 2023
JACC: a story of hope in Holy Week

Aron is a refugee who has come into contact with the JACC (Jerusalem African Community Center), the NGO based in Jerusalem that in collaboration with Pro Terra Sancta has been offering concrete help to thousands of African immigrants who cross the border of Israel in search of a better and dignified life. The data collected […]

24 March 2023
Nazareth: interview with Fr. Wojciech Bołoz, OFM

Preserving and valuing the profound meaning of the mystery of the Incarnation: interview with Fr. Wojciech Bołoz, OFM, Guardian and Rector of the Basilica of the Annunciation and Shrine of the Holy Family in Nazareth Nazareth is preparing itself to live the feast of the Annunciation in a context of apprehension. Considered an example of […]

21 March 2023
Fadia and the study between bombs and earthquakes

Fadia is a twenty-two-year-old Syrian girl with a great talent for studying. She and her family arrived in Latakia a few years ago. She had to leave Aleppo, her city, when it was besieged and bombs fell in clusters on buildings in the neighborhood where she lived. Thanks to the help of some friends, she […]

16 March 2023
The engineers and phase two: starting from the houses to rebuild the future.

Diego puts the spirit level to the floor. He checks it deeply. Then, sorrowful, “There’s nothing to do, the floor clearly slopes to the left. The ground has given way. And this building has to be demolished.” It is a story often repeated in the reconnaissance of engineers reviewing houses in Aleppo. Bruno hits the […]

15 March 2023
Sanctions and humanitarian aid in Syria: a complex balance

A few days after the tragedy of the earthquake that devastated Turkey and northern Syria, the public debate has often focused on a very controversial issue, which at this particular moment constitutes one of the main obstacles to humanitarian aid in Syria: international economic sanctions. In these years of war and again recently Association Pro […]

2 March 2023
Earthquake in Syria: damage to our facilities

In northern Syria, the rubble left by the war is covered by that of the earthquake. Or rather, earthquakes, which since February 6 have shaken the ground at least 9 thousand times with aftershocks. Victims in Turkey and Syria have exceeded the tragic threshold of 50,000 people. More than half a million people have been […]

21 February 2023
Earthquake in Turkey and Syria: inadequate aid, displaced people in the streets

“Everything is still shaking here, we don’t know what to do anymore! All of Aleppo is in the streets!” Last night, at 8 p.m. local time, about two weeks after the earthquake of February the 6th a second quake of 6.5 magnitude struck Turkey and Syria with epicenter between Antioch in Turkey and Latakia, a […]

15 February 2023
Earthquake emergency: the stories of those who lived it

More than a week has passed and still not all the victims of this earthquake have been extracted from the rubble. These days our staff is relentlessly helping the populations of Aleppo, Latakia, Knayeh and Yacoubieh. The emergency centers welcome more than 4,000 people every day through the provision of food, medicine, blankets and other […]

9 February 2023
Earthquake in Syria: our story continues from Knayeh and Latakia

«The Lord truly saved me from certain death. My church with much of the convent is out of order. Sadly, so many neighbors have died.». So says in a message on whastapp Father Louai Bsharat, a Franciscan friar in the village of Knayeh, Syria. The first news has arrived from the villages controlled by jihadist […]

7 February 2023
In Aleppo, the digging continues between aid and solidarity

“I tried to contact my mother and father, but they didn’t answer me because they had left their phones at home to escape into the street. I thought they were dead. But then I saw them in the street … thank God.” With a broken voice, the young Muna from Aleppo remembers the terrible moments […]

3 February 2023
Syria: 2022 the worst year in humanitarian terms

In the cruelest of silences, Syria is approaching its 12th anniversary of war. The year just past reveals all the tragedy that the Syrian people and refugees still have to endure. 2022 is the year in which fewer casualties have been recorded in Syria since the outbreak of civil war on March 15, 2011. Very […]

27 January 2023
A new floor for the Holy Sepulchre

Many will remember the famous photograph taken just over nine months ago in the Anastasis, the heart of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. The image (photo 1) portrays the heads of the Greek Orthodox, Latin Catholic and Armenian Apostolic Churches lifting a stone of the ancient floor with pickaxes. The gesture marked the beginning […]