Pilgrims with Bishop Marcuzzo, Fr Carroll and Michael Kelly at the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. “Without the Christians, the Holy Land is no more than a museum”. This was the stark message from Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo to a group of participants in The Irish Catholic annual Christian Solidarity Pilgrimage to the Holy Land in Jerusalem last week. Bishop Marcuzzo – who is an anxiliary bishop to the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem – thanked the pilgrims for their support during a meeting at the headquarters of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land in Jerusalem
Pilgrims had come from all four corners in Ireland to visit the holy sites associated with the earthly life of Christ and offer concrete support to local Christian communities. Bishop Marcuzzo reflected on the fact that many of the Holy Land’s tiny Christian community want to leave due to the hardship they experience.
He outlined how the Church with help from Catholics around the world is working hard to ensure that Arab Christians in the Holy Land can stay and prosper. However, he warned that many Christians there feel an acute sense of insecurity which is forcing many of them to emigrate to the West.
First led by Archbishop Eamon Martin in 2016, the pilgrimage organised by The Irish Catholic and Marian Pilgrimages aims to help people experience the beauty of the Holy Land while also learning more about the Christian community there. Described by Pope Benedict XVI as the “living stones of the Holy Land”, Christians make up just 2% of the population.
As well as Jerusalem, pilgrims visited the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, Bethlehem and Nazareth. Pilgrims were accompanied by Spiritual Director Fr John Carroll of the Ferns Diocese and Managing Editor of The Irish Catholic Michael Kelly.
If you would be interested in participating in next year’s pilgrimage, please send an email to michael@irishcatholic.ie for further details.