Before a large number of journalists, His Beatitude Msgr. Sabbah delivered his Christmas message in English and then in Arabic on Wednesday, December 19th, at the Latin Patriarchate.
As is their custom, for the journalists this was the occasion not so much to hear a spiritual message as a political one, an aspect that His Beatitude, in his twenty years as Patriarch, has never avoided.
In this Christmas message he addressed the thorny question of visas for foreign clergy wishing to spend time in the Holy Land for their studies or their apostolate, reminding the Israeli authorities of the universality of the Holy Land and the obligation of hosptiality that this implies.
MAB
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As is their custom, for the journalists this was the occasion not so much to hear a spiritual message as a political one, an aspect that His Beatitude, in his twenty years as Patriarch, has never avoided.
In this Christmas message he addressed the thorny question of visas for foreign clergy wishing to spend time in the Holy Land for their studies or their apostolate, reminding the Israeli authorities of the universality of the Holy Land and the obligation of hosptiality that this implies.
MAB
Access to the full text