Celebrations at the birthplace of Jesus Christ will be bigger again this year after being muted due to the Gaza war. Cardinal Pizzaballa wishes for “a Christmas full of light”.
December 24, 2025, 3:25 p.mDecember 24, 2025, 3:25 p.m
Thousands of people gathered on Christmas Eve in Bethlehem, the place where Christians believe Jesus was born. There were both Christians and Muslims in the square near the Church of the Nativity on Wednesday.
Thousands of people gathered in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve.Image: keystone
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Holy Land’s most senior Catholic cleric, said he was bringing greetings from Gaza’s tiny Christian community, where he celebrated a pre-Christmas mass on Sunday. “All of us together, we decide to be the light, and the light of Bethlehem is the light of the world,” he said.
Because of the Gaza war between Israel and the militant Islamist Hamas, Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem over the past two years have been smaller, with little lighting and decorations. This year there was again a large Christmas tree on the local square. Hundreds of musicians played Christmas carols with bagpipes on Wednesday.
Cardinal Pizzaballa came to Bethlehem from Jerusalem in a traditional procession. He called for “a Christmas full of light”. “After two years of darkness, we need light,” he said as he crossed the wall that separates Jerusalem from Bethlehem.
Cardinal Pizzaballa came to Bethlehem from Jerusalem in a traditional procession.Image: keystone
Consequences of Gaza war very noticeable in Bethlehem
The effects of the Gaza war are very noticeable in Bethlehem. Here, around 80 percent of the predominantly Muslim population depends on tourism, according to the local government. Those who gathered on Wednesday were mostly residents, with only a few outsiders present.
“Today is a day of joy, a day of hope, the beginning of the return to normality here,” said resident Georgette Jackaman, who works as a tour guide but has not had any assignments for more than two years. “People are desperate, but after two years everyone wants to celebrate.” It is the first real Christmas party for Georgette and her husband Michael’s two-and-a-half-year-old and ten-month-old children.
80 percent of the population in Bethelehem is actually Muslim.Image: keystone
During the war, Bethlehem’s unemployment rate rose from 14 to 65 percent, Mayor Maher Nicola Canawati announced this month. “People are still afraid to come here,” Jackaman said.
“Christmas is like hope in very dark situations”
Physiotherapist Mona Riewer was in Bethlehem from France on Wednesday. “I came because I wanted to have a better understanding of what the people of Palestine are going through, and you can sense that people have been through very hard times,” she said. Friends and family members warned her against traveling to Bethlehem in view of the political developments. But being there at Christmas makes her understand the meaning of this holiday, she said. “Christmas is like hope in very dark situations,” she said.
Around 30,000 people live in Bethlehem. Around 10,000 of them are Christians.Image: keystone
Despite the ceasefire in the Gaza war that came into force in October, tensions are still high in the West Bank, where Bethlehem is located. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war. The internationally recognized Palestinian Authority administers parts of the West Bank, including Bethlehem. According to Mayor Canawati, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was scheduled to attend midnight mass on Wednesday evening (today) for the first time in two years. (dpa) (aargauerzeitung.ch)