In Bethlehem, the unchanging status quo of the Holy Places set up under the Ottoman Empire will be respected for the midnight mass, but the ceremony promises to be disembodied.
It will be held without an audience.
The Palestinian Authority ordered the closed session due to the resurgence of the health crisis.
By virtue of the protocol in force since the Treaty of Paris of 1856, the new Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, will nevertheless walk up in procession the rue de l'Etoile, the path that Mary would have taken, to the Place de la Manger.
He will say the office in French, in the Franciscan Church of St. Catherine adjacent to the Basilica of the Nativity, as tradition dictates.
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In Bethlehem, fewer tourists but more prayers for Christmas
After the Christians of the Latin rite, it will be the turn of the Greek, Orthodox and then Armenian clergy to celebrate Christmas, according to their calendar and without their flock.
During the festive season, Bethlehem usually hosts hundreds of thousands of pilgrims.
Not a shadow of one of them
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