The Commissariat of the Holy Land is organizing another Pilgrimage to the Holy Land from 10 to 18 September 2005. Fr. Twanny Chircop OFM, Commissary for the Holy Land, will be accompanying and directing a group of 53 pilgrims, the largest since the year 2000, which was a record year for pilgrimages before the Al Aqsa Intifada broke out.

The pilgrims will visit Galilee and Judea, stopping and praying at all the Christian sanctuaries. At this moment the Holy Land is full of Italian and Spanish groups of pilgrims. Many dioceses in Italy have organized pilgrimages, accompanied by the respective Bishops, in order to bolster hope for the Christians in the Holy Land. The political situation is stable, even though news coverage about the Gaza pullout and West Bank hostilities might give the impression that Israel and Palestine are “war zones”. Nothing can be further from the truth. Israel is a fully developed and well-organized country, where security for tourists and pilgrims is given top priority.

The Maltese group of pilgrims will visit Haifa, Nazareth, Mount Tabor, Cana, Capernahum, Tabgha, the Mount of Beatitudes, the Sea of Galilee, Ein Karem, Bethlehem, Jericho, the Dead Sea, and all the Holy Places of Jerusalem, particularly the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. In the future the Commissariat is planning other pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to other countries in the Middle East where there are Christian sites. This year the Commissariat also organized a pilgrimage to the Christian and cultural sites of Jordan and Syria.