Christmas returns to Bethlehem amid ongoing concerns over Christian population decline from 86% in 1950 to just 10% today, ...

Catholic leaders in the Holy Land expressed cautious optimism this week that pilgrims will be able to return to the region amid a new ceasefire and hostage release agreement in Gaza, which is expected ...

JERUSALEM — Hope, the theme chosen by Pope Francis for Jubilee 2025, is in short supply in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza right now, but is needed more than ever, local Catholic leaders say. While few ...

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, presides over an hour of adoration and vespers Oct. 7, 2024, in the Pro Cathedral of the Latin Patriarchate in the Old City of Jerusalem ...

The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims' Progress, by Mark Twain, public domain, $5–$40 At just 31, Mark Twain sailed to Europe and the Holy Land on the steamship Quaker City, an excursion that ...

Mosaic of Jesus on the dome ceiling of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, Israel. Easter and Passover will bring many thousands of tourists and pilgrims to Israel, as travel to the Holy ...

BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK – The escalating conflict between Israel and the Palestinian territories often brings focus on the tensions between Judaism and Islam, the two majority religions in the region.

Franciscan Father Francesco Patton’s nine-year tenure as custos of the Holy Land began unexpectedly in 2016 when he found himself “redirected” — as he put it — to a largely unfamiliar land while ...