SW News: After more than a year and a half, Jerusalem witnessed the arrival of a group of pilgrims and they were welcomed by Latin Patriarch Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa. With the gradual easing of COVID-19 curbs, the head of the Latin Church in the Holy Land renewed his invitation to pilgrims to return to the places associated with Jesus.
In an interview with Vatican Radio, Archbishop Pizzaballa said that with the return of pilgrims, Jerusalem is once again breathing with two lungs. He joyfully opened the doors of the Patriarchate to believers, priests and journalists who comprised the first group of the Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi.
The top prelate said the first group of pilgrims are experiencing something extraordinary in the Holy Land as there are no usual queues to enter pilgrim sites and the normal hubbub of tourists is missing.
After Holy Mass at Gethsamane and the visit to Bethlehem, the pilgrims arrived at the Holy Sepulchre church where there was the customary embrace between the friars of the Custody and Cardinal Feroci who is leading the group. The pilgrims were greeted with a prayer sung by the Friars Minor of the Custody.