After the siege of the Church of the Nativity had ended, on May 10, a special ceremony was required by Church authorities, because of the desecration of the siege.
This Sunday, May 12, priests of the Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Armenian Churches which share responsibility for the Church of the Nativity, celebrated a Mass of Reconsecration in Saint Catherine’s Church, part of the basilica. It had been damaged during the siege and eight Palestinians had been killed on sanctified ground.
Fighting between Palestinian and Israeli soldiers had also damaged the Greek Orthodox Monastery adjoining the church. The church was originally built in the Fourth Century, C.E., and was destroyed and rebuilt in the Sixth. It has always served as a place of refuge for everyone, regardless of his or her religion.
More than 1,000 of the faithful attended the first public Mass, since the end of the siege.
“Peace between men, peace between peoples can only grow if it exists first in each man, in each people," Diplomatic Envoy Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, told worshippers in Bethlehem. "We have to see beyond Bethlehem and embrace the whole of the Holy Land."
"Everything for justice, everything in dialogue: the path is long and steep. The door which leads to this door is even more narrow than the low door of this Nativity basilica."
This Sunday, May 12, priests of the Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Armenian Churches which share responsibility for the Church of the Nativity, celebrated a Mass of Reconsecration in Saint Catherine’s Church, part of the basilica. It had been damaged during the siege and eight Palestinians had been killed on sanctified ground.
Fighting between Palestinian and Israeli soldiers had also damaged the Greek Orthodox Monastery adjoining the church. The church was originally built in the Fourth Century, C.E., and was destroyed and rebuilt in the Sixth. It has always served as a place of refuge for everyone, regardless of his or her religion.
More than 1,000 of the faithful attended the first public Mass, since the end of the siege.
“Peace between men, peace between peoples can only grow if it exists first in each man, in each people," Diplomatic Envoy Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, told worshippers in Bethlehem. "We have to see beyond Bethlehem and embrace the whole of the Holy Land."
"Everything for justice, everything in dialogue: the path is long and steep. The door which leads to this door is even more narrow than the low door of this Nativity basilica."