British church leaders on pilgrimage to Bethlehem

13 April 2012

Four British church leaders are due to arrive in Bethlehem today as part of an Advent pilgrimage to the Holy Land aimed at showing solidarity with Christians in the region.

The group, including Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster and leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, is travelling to the place of Jesus's birth to visit the Grotto of the Nativity and to take part in an ecumenical service.

They are accompanied by Bishop Nathan Hovhannisian, Primate of the Armenian Church of Great Britain, and the Rev David Coffey, Moderator of the Free Churches.

The leaders have called for prayers for the beleaguered town, where the Christian community has suffered economic hardship and anxiety about their homes and their security.

The Christian population of Bethlehem has fallen dramatically since 1948.

There have been reports of religious persecution, in the form of murders, beatings and land grabs.

Meanwhile, the breakdown in security and wider political instability is putting off tourists, leading to economic hardship for Christians, who own most of the town's hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops.

The sense of isolation was increased last year when Bethlehem found itself behind Israel's security wall, a 400-mile-long concrete barrier which separates Jewish and Palestinian areas.

Israeli officials have cited security concerns, pointing out that in 2004, half of all Israeli deaths were caused by suicide bombers originating from Bethlehem.

But the town's Roman Catholic Mayor, Dr Victor Batarseh, has described the wall as as transforming Bethlehem into a "large prison", with visitors forced to pass through a 30ft wall and negotiate their way past armed soldiers and concrete barriers.

Earlier this week, Dr Williams, speaking on the Pause for Thought slot on BBC Radio 2's Wogan show, said he knew the group would be met with kindness in Bethlehem.

He said: "We'll be with people who are really desperate to find some sort of hope, some way out of the cycle of violence and insecurity."

The visit comes after Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, announced it was setting up a replica of the wall instead of a traditional Nativity scene this year.

The church is twinned with a Catholic parish in the village of Aboud on the West Bank, and exchange trips have been made between the two communities.

The church has said it has put together an exhibition about the effects of the wall on Palestinian people living nearby. It is also raising funds for the people of Bethlehem.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in