“A simple gesture, but rich in hope.” These are the words with which the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Francesco Ielpo, commented on the laying of the first stone of the future Polish chapel in the Shepherds’ Field in Bethlehem, there where the angels announced the birth of Jesus. The new place of prayer dedicated to St. Joseph enriches the complex of the chapels of the nations with that of one of the countries that are most deeply rooted in the Catholic faith. That Poland represented for the occasion by Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś, metropolitan archbishop of Kraków, invited to preside over the event.

In his speech, the Father Custos wanted to emphasize the strong bond between Warsaw and the Holy Land and the deep meaning of choosing to dedicate this chapel to the foster father of Christ. In his discretion, constant in all Gospel accounts, St. Joseph made himself the “Custos of the Holy Family, a man of silence and listening,” capable of welcoming God’s plan “with humility and courage.” A man who accepted what God had decided for him and testified to it not with words, but with his entire existence.

Precisely following the example of the Saint of silence, the chapel thus becomes a concrete symbol and objective testimony of the Catholic faith. With the laying of the first stone, with its time capsule preserving the birth certificate and the signatures of those present, the Holy Land is enriched with a new place of prayer and welcome. A chapel for the local community and for the pilgrims who, it is hoped, will soon return to visit the places of the Gospel. Trusting in that peace “of which the world and this Land are in such deep need today,” recalled Fr. Ielpo, and for which “humility and courage” are needed. The two characteristics that marked the life of St. Joseph, to whose intercession the Custos entrusted the new construction, which strengthens the union between the Polish Church and the places of Jesus Christ.