After two years of extreme difficulty, Bethlehem returned today to experience Christmas in a joyful, festive and widely shared celebration. The 2025 celebrations marked a slow but meaningful rebirth for the city: first, with the solemn entrance of the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Francesco Ielpo, who officially opened the path of Advent, then, on 6 December, with the traditional lighting of the tree in Manger Square, a moment that restored symbolic light to the heart of the city […]
A fragment of rock of the Grotto of the Annunciation of Nazareth – where according to Christian tradition the angel made the announcement to Mary and her “yes” to the design of God – was donated by the Custody of the Holy Land to the papal Basilica of St Mary of the Angels in Assisi. A relic for the Porziuncola On 25 March, the solemnity of the Annunciation and anniversary of when the first stone of the Basilica was laid […]
As is tradition, the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Francesco Ielpo, brought Christmas greetings to the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches of Jerusalem, to rejoice together in the mystery of the birth of Jesus, which the Orthodox celebrate on January seven. The Custos, accompanied by some confreres of the Custody of the Holy Land, paid visits to the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate, the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Patriarchate, to […]
The bond between the Custody of the Holy Land and the rest of the world is kept alive by a network of Commissariats with the task of promoting the mission of the Franciscans in the Holy Land. They include the Commissariat in Washington, the oldest in the United States and which recently celebrated the 125th anniversary of its foundation. A network for the Holy Land Among the initiatives organized by the Commissariats in support of the charities of the Custody […]
