(Jerusalem) Twenty-six people, including lay people, men and women religious and priests, from the dioceses of Milan, Trento, Brescia, Tortona, Piacenza and Novara, led by Adriana Sigilli (Diomira Travel) were among the first to respond to the joint appeal (on 18 January) of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Francesco Patton, to return to Jerusalem after almost sixteen months of absence due to the armed conflict in Gaza. During the pilgrimage – 3-7 February – they visited the three “Jubilee Sites” of Nazareth, Bethlehem and Jerusalem, with the Basilicas of the Annunciation, the Nativity and the Holy Sepulchre. The theme of the pilgrimage is the theme of the Jubilee 2025, ‘Pilgrims of Hope’. The programme included visits, meditations, masses and, above all, meetings with the local Christian communities and solidarity visits, such as the one to ‘Effetà Paul VI’, the Bethlehem school specialised in the audio-phonetic re-education of hearing-impaired children living in the Palestinian Territories.
Courageous pilgrims. Monsignor Giuseppe Scotti, who has held many important positions in the Holy See and currently serves as Secretary of the Episcopal Conference of Lombardy (CLC), was among the participants. “Those days were very meaningful to me, having served as a guide to the Holy Places for a long time”, he told SIR. “I had not seen this kind of situation for many years. There are no pilgrims and the few who are there are considered to be courageous by the local Christians. We saw tears in the eyes of some of our brethren in the Holy Land.” For Bishop Scotti, “the beauty of this pilgrimage was the opportunity to meet with Christian communities and their leaders, such as Patriarch Pizzaballa and the Custos Fr. Patton. We met with a local Christian community that prays and works for reconciliation and peace. After this experience, the CEL secretary said he is increasingly convinced that “pilgrimages, once they are resumed with continuity, should be organised in close contact with local communities in order to get to know them better and to pray together with them.”
The Christianity of this land is written on the faces of our Christian brothers and sisters who inhabit it. Meeting with the Christian community of the Holy Land was important. The members of this community pray that hope may grow, as Pope Francis invites us to do in this Holy Year.
With hope, nurtured by patience, we understand that we can change this world. This is especially true in a Holy Land torn by armed conflict.”
With the living stones. Increasing the involvement of local Christian communities in pilgrimages is an ongoing commitment of Adriana Sigilli, President of Diomira Travel (Milan), a tour operator dedicated to religious and cultural journeys in which encounter, solidarity, ecumenical and interreligious dialogue play an integral role. To this end, Sigilli also founded the association “Oasis of Peace”, of which she is president, to provide support for the children of the Holy Land and their families. “In this Holy Year,” she said to SIR, “pilgrimages should become an experience of encounter with the inhabitants of the Holy Land, of attentive listening to their stories. Especially at this time when there are no pilgrims.” For the president of Diomira Travel, “pilgrimages are an important part of the pastoral ministry. In the Holy Land it is possible to have a personal experience of the many episodes narrated in the Gospels, in which Jesus is the protagonist.
The pilgrimages enable us to enter the History of Salvation
Nobody can remain indifferent to the mystery of these holy places.” He added: “Pilgrimages favour encounters with the local Christian communities, the living stones of this land that help us to unveil this mystery. This is exactly what we experienced during this pilgrimage: we met people who have been without work for months because of the war, people who live in fear of what the future may bring, people who are worried about the precariousness of the ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon. This terrible uncertainty causes anxiety in so many young families, worried about the future of their children, but inspired by a strong and enduring faith to continue with Christian hope. We were touched by the pride with which our Christian brothers and sisters from the Holy Land live their deep faith, which they have shown and never flaunted. Their testimony,” he concluded, “is an impetus to return as pilgrims to the Holy Land, overcoming the fear that grips so many believers throughout the world.”
Visiting the Holy Land is safe,
the Patriarch and the Custos affirmed in a recent statement: “Pilgrimages are absolutely safe. Now is the time to turn our gaze and return to Jerusalem to bring joy to so many Christian families who are anxiously awaiting the return of the pilgrims”. Let us also return to show our close solidarity with the small Christian community of the Holy Land that needs our presence.”
