“What will this child ever be?” (Lk 1:66); this is how, according to the Gospel of Luke, the men and women who witnessed this event react to the birth of John the Baptist. And in fact it was a truly prodigious juncture: John’s mother and Zechariah’s wife, Elizabeth, was elderly and barren; Zechariah himself had […]

Lebanon went to the polls in the midst of the worst economic, social and health crisis since the birth of the Lebanese Republic. The parliamentary elections on Sunday 15 May, in fact, were held in a climate of protests and general discontent. It would be simplistic to say that the Lebanese people feel anger at […]

“Never let a good crisis go to waste”. This famous “teaching” promoted by the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the end of the Second World War has found in the current President of Turkey, Recep Tayyep Erdoğan, a faithful disciple. Turkey as an international mediator In the name of the good relations that […]

Eleven years after the break of the bloody civil war, 6 Syrians out of 10 suffer from hunger and have no idea where and how to get food. According to the Global Report on Food Crisis, there are more than 12 million people who are living a situation of food insecurity in Syria. FAO defines […]

The first Arab-Israeli war of 1948 ended in a landslide victory for the Israeli army. The Nakba, so called by the Arab countries, marked a crucial turning point in the history of Palestine and the entire Middle East region. At the end of the war of ’48, the United Nations issued Resolution 194 which enshrined […]

The ancient history of Palestine «Lord, disarm tongues and hands, renew hearts and minds, so that the word that brings us together may always be ‘brother’, and the style of our life become: shalom, peace, salam! Amen». Pope Francis, prayer for peace, 8 June 2014. Retenu, Haru, Canaan, Iuadea, Terrasanta, Falastīn … as many names […]

A small dark stone church stands on the shores of the Lake Tiberias in the northern region of Galilee. Three small windows in neo-Gothic style appear on its gabled façade, completed by a sober, slightly splayed portal. This is the chapel of the Primacy of Peter, where, according to the twenty-first chapter of the Gospel […]

The liturgical calendar commemorates today the Visitation of Mary, that is, the Virgin’s journey to the home of her relative Elizabeth. The episode, narrated in the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel, is famous. Mary, then pregnant with Jesus, goes to the home of the elder Elizabeth, also pregnant (John the Baptist would be her son) […]

The Ascension of Jesus is the episode that concludes the narrative of the Gospels and opens that of the Acts of the Apostles. Today, May 26th, the Church commemorates this event, the passage of the risen Jesus from Earth to Heaven. The most vivid narration of the events is contained in the Acts of the […]

The moment has come: on next June 9th, the Dar al-Majus Community Home will finally be inaugurated in Bethlehem. Offices, training places, exhibition spaces and art galleries, all this will find home in Dar al-Majus, which literally means “the house of the Magi”. This is an old Ottoman building that rises in the heart of […]

Leaving your country, home, family, and friends is one of the hardest decisions one can make. The majority of people have experienced leaving their childhood home perhaps merely traveling to the next village or city. However,some people are forced to leave their country, sometimes temporarily, but sometimes permanently. The history of Lebanese emigration started with […]

May has already begun, and this month invites us to gather around Our Lady. There are many ways to do so, and one of them is to go directly to the place where Mary lived her daily life: Nazareth. Here the Virgin conceived Jesus, beginning the story of redemption; here the Holy Family lived together […]

In the heart of Lebanon’s capital Beirut, the old streets of Achrafieh were always known for their buildings and houses’ beautiful architecture, houses that exhibit Beirut’s archeological history and hold sentimental meaning to all Lebanese. This part of Beirut was the most affected bythe blast of August 4, 2020. Today, roaming these streets after almost […]

Jameela is a Syrian woman; she just turned 35 and she lives in Damascus. In 2011, when the war started, she was 24 years-old and already mother of two children. Without a job, she devoted herself on home and children care, as many women did. Her husband Simonprovided for his family with occasional jobs. . […]

His voice is so confident and lively that you would never tell, by listening to him at the phone, that he is a man whose eyes witness a human tragedy in the Aegean Sea. Father John Luke Gregory is a Franciscan friar of the Custody of the Holy Land and Vicar General of the archdiocese […]

On Tuesday, the social report of Pro Terra Sancta for the year 2021 was definitively approved in Jerusalem by the Shareholders’ Assembly ( you can download it at this link ). In the meeting room of the convent of San Salvatore, the figures of the association’s commitment for last year were submitted to the attention […]

This is the most awaited moment of the Orthodox Christians’ Easter. Seven days after the Easter of Catholics and Protestants, the Holy Saturday of the varied mosaic of the Orthodox Christians announce the upcoming miracle in the heart of the Holy Sepulchre. The day before the Orthodox Easter, that this year according to the Julian […]

In occasion of Eastern celebrations, we would like to propose the video message of Br. Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land and President of the Association pro Terra Sancta. “May the Lord reach eache and every one of you from this place with a special blessing and may the Risen Lord bring reconciliation and […]

The social report of Pro Terra Sancta for the year 2021 approved in Jerusalem by the Shareholders’ Meeting on Tuesday 26 April 2022. In the meeting room of the convent of San Salvatore, the figures of the association’s commitment for last year were submitted to the attention of Father Francesco Patton OFM, president of Pro […]

The streets of Bethany meander dustily up the slope of the Mount of Olives. The traffic, always congested and noisy, travels slowly night and day, under the watchful eye of the minarets and the huge apartment blocks that dot the city. Here, at a bend in the main road, half-hidden in the silent green of […]