The Bishop of Gozo, Mgr. Mario Grech, together with his secretary, Fr. Eddie Zammit, were in Bethlehem on a personal visit on 21-24 November.  The purpose of the visit was that of collaborating with a local TV station in order to lauch a documentary about Bethlehem during the Christmas season. Among the other commitments during this personal visit, the Bishop also met all the Maltese religious living in Bethlehem and Jerusalem, particularly Fr. Noel Muscat OFM, Master of Novices at the Nativity Franciscan friary in Bethlehem. He also met Fr. Twanny Chircop OFM, Commissary of the Holy Land, who happened to be in Jerusalem for the International Congress of the Commissaries of the Holy Land organized by the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.

The Bishop also had meetings with the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Mgr. Michel Sabbah, and with the parish priest of Bethlehem, Fr. Amjad Sabbara OFM, and he celebrated Mass privately in the Grotto of the Nativity.