Director of the Catholic Center for Studies and Media in Jordan (CCSM) Fr. Dr. Rif'at Bader has noted that the development work at the Baptism Site of Lord Jesus includes setting up a theater for concerts and festivals that can accommodate 5,000 people, and places for holding youth and scout camps as part of a spiritual project to hold religious lectures within the framework of efforts to transform the country into a global pilgrimage site.

 

He added, in his interview with the Egyptian newspaper Al-Dustour, that Egypt is one of the candidate countries to host the conference for the inauguration of the Unified Media Authority of Christian Churches, pointing out that the Copt Egyptians are allowed to visit the holy places in Jordan while providing them with all necessary facilities.

 

 What about the development of the Holy Baptism Site?

The development of the Baptism Site is a very important and a historic event for religious tourism in Jordan. The work includes preparing a place for prayer that includes several churches, and we are addressing developing the places adjacent to the Baptism Site as well as investing there in order to encourage religious tourism. We also consider providing full accommodation for the visitors, promoting activities at the new tourist village which include hotels, places to sell religious artifacts, and places to sell birds.

 

What is the expected benefit from this development?

The importance of the Baptism Site area lies in the fact that it is close to the Dead Sea which contains a large amount of salts that the visitors may benefit from in treating some diseases. Furthermore, there will be a theater for concerts and holding festivals that can accommodate 5,000 people. There will be camps for youth and scouts as part of a spiritual project and religious lectures. This will be achieved through investors, and officials can address foreign investors to come to the Baptism Site  for investment because Jordan is a place of international pilgrimage and there are large numbers of Christian pilgrims who prefer religious tourism in Jordan.

 

How many pilgrims visit the Baptism Site?

The current statistics on the number of pilgrims are inaccurate due to the Corona pandemic that spread in the world in the last period, at a time when the wheel of religious tourism stopped in the whole world, not just in Jordan.

When addressing religious tourism, the Ministry of Tourism in Jordan says that it aims to restore the numbers of pilgrims in 2019, at a time when religious renaissance prevailed in Jordan and the season was very promising. In 2019, we had one million visitors to Petra, in addition to 790,000 visitors to Mount Nebo, and there were about 300,000 visitors to the Baptism Site and the rest of the tourist places in Jordan.

Tourism in Jordan is not limited to religious tourism only, as there is also tourism for attending conferences and distinguished sites, because Jordan plays a distinguished role in the region in tourism and politics as it welcomes refugees and expresses interest in the Palestinian cause. We have tourism called adventure tourism in rivers and waters, and we view Jordan as a tourist country, but we have not yet achieved all our dreams.

 

What about the religious significance of the pilgrimage to the Baptism Site area?

The Baptism Site is the essence of the tourist places in Jordan for Christian pilgrims, because the One who played a major role there is Lord Jesus Christ, and we also have Saint John the Baptist who is considered the first patron saint of the church in Jordan. He preached on the eastern side of the River Jordan and he was a martyr of truth in Makawer Castle in Jordan.

The Baptism Site was a closed area for political reasons because it is located on the border with Palestine and Israel, until an agreement was concluded in 1994 known as the Peace Treaty with Israel, which recovered the land of Baptism Site and thus it  became a place marked for religious tourism in Jordan.

The land of the Baptism Site is a very promising place, which visitors will put on the list of important places to visit, while they are in Jordan.

 

Hasn't the baptism Site been added to the World Heritage List?

The Baptism Site has been recognized as part of the world heritage, according to UNESCO. Adding the Baptism Site to the world heritage has material and non-material advantages. In the past period the “mansaf” was included on the list of non-material human world heritage, and the inclusion of any holy place in the heritage list means that it is registered globally forever in the name of the country in which it is located, and thus no country can declare that the Baptism Site belongs to it. An important media recognition was made in 2000 by Pope John Paul II when he described Jordan as having beautiful traditions, and since then the Baptism Site and churches have been opened to pilgrims in conjunction with the Epiphany.

 

 

When are visitors allowed to enter the Baptism Site?

The Baptism Site is open to visitors during the second Friday of January every year, which is the pilgrimage day of the Catholic Churches coinciding with the Feast of Epiphany. They are also allowed to make a pilgrimage to Mount Nebo, where the feast of the Prophet Moses is celebrated. We also have a pilgrimage to Our Lady of the Mount in Anjara on the second Friday of June. On these occasions, pilgrims come from several countries to conduct religious tourism and to visit the Baptism Site.

 

What about the visits of Copt Egyptians to the region?

Coptic tourism in Jordan has flourished after the visit of Pope Tawadros, and the visitors began to come for  religious purposes, by crossing the River Jordan, and proceeding to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which the Pope had visited and where he prayed. This was considered as a permit to allow the Coptic pilgrims to go to Jerusalem and visit the holy places.

There is cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism to promote the visits of Copt Egyptians to Jordan in coordination with the Ministry of Interior because many Copt Egyptians also come to Jordan looking for job opportunities, and there are facilities from the Jordanian government for Copt Egyptians to visit tourist places. The Coptic Egyptian pilgrims have the right to go to Jordan, visit the holy places, and seek blessings from the water of the River Jordan. Tourist delegations are granted all facilities to visit the tourist places.

 

 

Is there a role for the Orthodox Church in Jordan?

The Coptic Orthodox Church is an integral part of the Christian community in Jordan, and it has an ecclesiastical court and three priests. A new priest has been added, and it is linked to the Coptic Patriarchate in Jerusalem.

 

 What about Jordan hosting the World Pilgrims Managers Conference during the current year?

Jordan will host the Conference of Pilgrim Directors, and this conference comes on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the National Association of Directors of Christian Pilgrimage in France  and it will be attended by about 180 directors of Christian pilgrimages around the world. Due attention will be paid to this event  because it is of great importance to Jordan.

 

What are the latest regarding the 50th  anniversary of the Middle East Council of Churches?

This year we mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Middle East Council of Churches, which is the only body that includes the four  families of churches. On this occasion, we seek to establish a media body that brings together all Christian bodies, to achieve media unity for Christians free from competition. Egypt is one of the candidate countries to host the inauguration conference of this body.

 

How does the council seek to support unity among churches?

All churches  support the option of unity, and this council remains a title for seeking unity. Recently there has been suffering in some countries of the world due to political and sectarian circumstances, especially in countries such as Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Palestine. But in the end the Christians love to be beside their Christian brethren anywhere regardless of their  church affiliation.

 

How does the Council support the displaced from countries suffering from crises?

The Council supports the displaced from countries suffering from crises by seeking to alleviate their suffering, whether by caring for the refugees financially or psychologically.

 

 Why is Jordan called the "custodian of the holy places"?

 Jordan protects the sanctities, that is why it is their custodian. This title has been linked to the king since the establishment of the Kingdom of Jordan, that title is historical and it is part of Jordanian rights because the custodianship is not ink on paper, but rather an implementation on the ground. It is manifested in the care for the Dome of the Rock and the payment of the salaries of the employees at Al-Aqsa Mosque, as these are all facilities affiliated with the “Jordanian Waqf.” Jordan had contributed to the restoration of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Holy Sepulcher,  and the development of sanitary system there.