“Our hearts are with Gaza today, where there is total destruction,” Pizzaballa said in comments after arriving in Bethlehem in the West Bank to lead a midnight Christmas mass.
“However, despite everything, its people still have a passion for life, a will for joy and a refusal to surrender,” he added.
Christian denominations that follow the Western calendar celebrate Christmas with a midnight mass on December 24 and 25, while churches that follow the Eastern calendar celebrate on January 7.
Pizzaballa said Gazans, like those in Bethlehem, will move on again despite the destruction.
“We will celebrate in Gaza and in Bethlehem. We will continue to celebrate every day and come back to rebuild everything,” he added.
More than 71,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed and over 171,000 others injured in Israel’s brutal war since October 2023, which has also left the Gaza Strip in ruins. The Israeli military and illegal settlers also killed at least 1,103 Palestinians and wounded nearly 11,000 others in the West Bank during the same period.
“Gaza, like Bethlehem, carries a message of steadfastness and hope,” Pizzaballa said, stressing that faith in life and peace is stronger than destruction.
“Today is the real Christmas here in Bethlehem, and the message of Bethlehem and the Holy Land is going out to the whole world,” he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli authorities barred Palestinian Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh from attending midnight mass at the Church of the Nativity.
Bethlehem, considered the birthplace of Jesus Christ, is a major spiritual and tourist center that attracts Christian pilgrims every December for Christmas celebrations and visits to the Church of the Nativity, a place built over the cave where Christian tradition believes Mary gave birth to Jesus.
(Vijesti.ba)
