A few meters from the Grotto from the Nativity, the Church of Santa Catherine fills up hours before midnight. It is Christmas all over the world, but the place is unique: Bethlehem is preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus. MARIA AUSILIA E LUCA "We are on honeymoon, we got married last week ... we chose to come here also to spend Christmas in the house of Jesus." GIOVANNI BATTISTA Christ was born here, here! "In all liturgies it is said, "here, today, Christ was born". So with a lot of simplicity, humility, tranquility and also joy we are here." Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also takes part in a midnight mass. Among the over 1,000 people presents, some Christians from Gaza, the very few who, after weeks of uncertainty, managed to get permission to leave at the last minute. HE Mgr PIERBATTISTA PIZZABALLA, ofm Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem "We celebrate a God who has always been in search of man, and who at Christmas decided to break into our own flesh and live among us. At Christmas all the world believers turn to Bethlehem." For Mgr. Pizzaballa, Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, going to Bethlehem means above all to make one's own style, the "Bethlehem style" ... this motivation comes above all to the situation in the Holy Land. HE Mgr PIERBATTISTA PIZZABALLA, ofm Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem "Sometimes I have the impression that we struggle to make the "Bethlehem style" our own. This happens when we get tired to see and recognize what happens as unfair around us. It is when we resign ourselves to accepting separations as normal divisions of our population caused by politics, or fatigue in everyday life to find and go to work, to move freely. When we refuse to accept in our reality the existence of the other person different from us: Jewish, Muslim or Christian." But for Archbishop Pizzaballa "in this torn and divided land" there is no lack of examples of those who authentically embodies the "Bethlehem style": he mentions people who spend their lives "to serve the disabled that nobody wants", the local schools where they welcome Christians and Muslims, the "people, associations and institutions who simply want to meet, overcoming the misunderstandings of those who do not share their desire for dialogue and peace". HE Mgr PIERBATTISTA PIZZABALLA, ofm Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem "They are the ones who remind us today that the "Bethlehem style" is still possible." Baby Jesus returns to the Manger. It is Christmas in Bethlehem again. Read More