FRANCISCANS taking care of some of Christianity’s holiest sites are seeing hope as pilgrims make their return to the tourism-dependent cities of the Holy Land.
Christian Information Centre director Franciscan Brother Tomasz Franciszek Dubiel was overjoyed in comments posted by custodia.org, the official website of the Holy Land Commissariat.
“Finally, after the pandemic, we are seeing an increase in bookings, which is a good sign that pilgrims are beginning to return to the Holy Land,” he said.
“It’s not a big increase, but with respect to the trend of the last few months and the last two years, there is already a 15 per cent increase in pilgrims booked for the month of March.”
Australia’s Holy Land Commissary Kedron parish priest Franciscan Father Mario Debattista said Christians have always faced their own struggles in the Holy Land because they make up only 2 per cent of the population.
He said even among the minority population, “the presence of Jesus can be felt strongly”.
But the pandemic, he said, had caused a “catastrophic loss of income due to the absence of pilgrims”.
The Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land estimated the economic loss at about $440 million by June 2021.
The Holy Land also relies on the Good Friday collection, which is a special collection for the Holy Land.
Read the article by Joe Higgins in The Catholic Leader.