The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, said Wednesday that the Gaza Strip carries "a message of resilience and hope" despite widespread destruction caused by Israel's two-year war.
"Our hearts today are with Gaza, where there is total destruction," Pizzaballa said in comments upon arrival in the West Bank city of Bethlehem to lead a midnight Christmas Mass.
"Yet despite everything, its people still have a passion for life, a will to rejoice and a refusal to surrender," he added.
Christian denominations that follow the Western calendar mark Christmas with a midnight Mass on Dec. 24-25, while churches that follow the Eastern calendar celebrate on Jan. 7.
Pizzaballa said Gaza's residents, like those in Bethlehem, would begin again despite the devastation.
"We will celebrate in Gaza and in Bethlehem. We will continue to celebrate every day and return to rebuild everything anew," he added.
More than 71,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed and over 171,000 others injured in a brutal Israeli war since October 2023 that also left the enclave in ruins. The Israeli army and illegal settlers also killed at least 1,103 Palestinians and wounded nearly 11,000 others in the West Bank during the same period.
Gaza, like Bethlehem, "carries a message of steadfastness and hope," Pizzaballa said, emphasizing that faith in life and peace is stronger than destruction.
"Today is a true Christmas here in Bethlehem, and from here the message of Bethlehem and the Holy Land goes out to the entire world," he said.
Earlier Wednesday, Israeli authorities barred Palestinian Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh from attending the midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity.
Bethlehem, revered as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, is a major spiritual and tourist center that draws Christian pilgrims each December for Christmas celebrations and visits to the Church of the Nativity, a site built over a grotto believed by Christian tradition to be where Mary gave birth to Jesus.
