Today Sunday 22nd December 2024, the 4th Sunday of Advent, The Universal Grand Prior of our Order His Beatitude Pierbattista Cardinal Pizzaballa ofm The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem travelled to Gaza in solidarity with the Christian community there and presided over the celebration of Holy Mass at the Holy Family Latin Catholic Church ahead of the joyous Christmas celebrations

During his sermon which can be viewed on links below, the Cardinal said

“We will never abandon you,
Don’t be afraid,
Preserve your hearts,
Together we remember that Jesus is here with you.
I bring you the solidarity of the whole Church,
You have in some way become the light of our Church and Christmas is indeed the celebration of light,
In this situation too we must see the sense of our lives.
Create relationships, don’t surrender to this situation,
People from all over the world, not only Christians, are with you,
So you can also give something because the whole world is watching.
It is necessary to choose whether to belong to the light or darkness, to Jesus or to someone else.
We are proud of you, not because of something special, but because you have remained what you are: Christians with Jesus.
We will bring with us the light of Jesus from here”.

The Cardinal then administered confirmation to a group of youths.