By Marinella Bandini Jerusalem, Jun 4, 2024 / 07:00 am During the month of May in Jerusalem, the major holidays of the three major religions — Christian Easter, Jewish Passover, and the month of Ramadan — passed with an almost total absence of pilgrims from abroad. The holy sites and the …

By Marinella Bandini Jerusalem, Jan 10, 2024 / 12:45 pm For the past two months, 33-year-old Kegham Balian, an Armenian Christian, has spent a significant part of his days and nights in a tent in a parking area known as “Cows’ Garden” in the southeast corner of the Old City of …

By Marinella Bandini Bethlehem, Dec 24, 2023 / 13:04 pm On Sunday, Dec. 24, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, made his entrance into Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas. It was also his first entrance into the “City of Christmas” since being made a cardinal. Following tradition, the patriarch entered …

By Marinella Bandini Jerusalem, Nov 26, 2023 / 06:00 am The strands of lights are falling down one after another, forming a kind of curtain of threads in front of the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Following the municipality’s decision to suspend Christmas events and remove decorations, workers are busy dismantling the …

By Marinella Bandini Jerusalem, Oct 11, 2023 / 11:25 am On Saturday, Oct. 7, Israel suddenly found itself in a state of war. A barrage of rockets from the Gaza Strip and attacks by Hamas terrorists who infiltrated cities near the border resulted in the death of over 1,000 people. Among …

By Marinella Bandini Jerusalem, Sep 17, 2023 / 07:00 am Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher, one of the holiest places in the world for Christians and an important pilgrimage site since the fourth century, is revealing more of its secrets. Ongoing archaeological investigations related to the restoration of the basilica’s …