Last week, Fr. Francesco Ielpo, Custos of the Holy Land, met with several delegations of bishops, priests, and faithful from different regions of Italy. These meetings with the Custos of the Holy Land aim to strengthen ties with Italian dioceses and communities, and to encourage the arrival of pilgrims visiting the Holy Land. In fact, the scarcity of arrivals over the past two years has created numerous difficulties.
The arrival of pilgrims is one of the topics on which the Heads of the Churches of Jerusalem are currently focusing. Indeed, the return of the faithful to the Holy Land is important from many points of view. In particular, pilgrimage represents a unique way of discovering faith, thanks to the closeness to the places where Jesus was born, lived, and gave His life.
Moreover, Fr. Francesco Ielpo has repeatedly recalled how pilgrimage is also a journey of discovering the seeds of hope that grow in this land. In fact, the Custos of the Holy Land has often stated that a pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a path of hope, not of suffering. To show pilgrims this message of hope, the Custos has asked the priests and friars who accompany the faithful to the Holy Land to highlight the seeds of hope and peace present both in Israel and in Palestine, without focusing exclusively on the tragedies that are marking the history of this land.
The first meeting took place on Wednesday, 4 February, when the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Francesco Ielpo, met with a delegation of Bishops, priests, and lay people from various Italian dioceses, including Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti. The group visiting from Italy was accompanied on the journey by Fr. Gianfranco Pinto Ostuni, Commissary of the Holy Land in Naples, who guided the pilgrimage by offering the faithful and religious an experience of the Holy Land, so that they may return to Italy and encourage parishioners to undertake a pilgrimage to rediscover the Gospel by walking through the places where Jesus lived.
Also present at the meeting was Fr. Alberto Joan Pari, Secretary of the Holy Land and Director of the Magnificat Institute, the music school of the Custody of the Holy Land. The original proposal to hold the meeting in the concert hall of the Convent of St. Saviour in Jerusalem allowed Fr. Alberto Joan to present one of the educational projects of the Custody, the music school that brings together students and teachers of different faiths and cultural backgrounds.
Following the presentation of the projects of the Magnificat Institute, two students and a teacher from the school performed a short concert, showing those present the quality of the teaching that the music school of the Custody of the Holy Land is able to offer.
The following day, Thursday, 5 February, the Custos of the Holy Land met with a group of priests from the Diocese of Vicenza accompanied by Don Gianantonio Urbani, archaeologist and lecturer at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum. During the meeting, the bond between the Custody of the Holy Land and the Diocese of Vicenza was reaffirmed, a relationship that for years has supported various projects of the Custody. In recent times in particular, the Diocese of Vicenza has been involved in fundraising and in the restoration of an important area on Mount Tabor, where the Basilica of the Transfiguration stands. The Diocese of Vicenza has also committed to forming a group of volunteers who will ensure the management and welcoming of visitors at the site of Magdala, the hometown of Mary Magdalene, located on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.
The final meeting of the week took place on Friday, 6 February, when the Custos met the Archbishop of Milan, Monsignor Mario Delpini, accompanied by more than seventy people, including many priests and permanent deacons of the Diocese of Milan. The group wished to organize an exploratory pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The objective of the journey is to rediscover the Holy Land firsthand, so that, once back in Italy, the priests and deacons may bear witness within their communities both to the importance and to the safety of pilgrimage in the Land of Jesus.
The Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Francesco Ielpo, offered the group his testimony on life in the Holy Land, recounting his experience as Custos in discovering this land and the peoples who live here. Furthermore, Fr. Francesco Ielpo shared with those present how, despite the many misfortunes that have afflicted the Holy Land in recent years, the faith of the Christians who live in this land remains strong and steadfast, a testimony of hope and trust in God that serves as an example to Christians throughout the world.
Riccardo Curti
