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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Bethan McKernan in Bethlehem

‘Sorrow and silence’ in Bethlehem as Christmas festivities are cancelled

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa leading Christmas morning mass in Bethlehem
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, centre, leading Christmas morning mass at the Chapel of St Catherine, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. Photograph: Mahmoud Illean/AP

In the days leading up to Christmas, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, said that one particular Bible verse kept running through his mind.

“When Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem she gave birth to the Lord in a manger because ‘there was no room for them’,” he told about 5,000 people during the Christmas Eve midnight mass service in the Palestinian town where Christians believe Jesus was born.

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