On the heels of the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel, the Custos of the Holy Land and the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem appealed to the international community to make pilgrimages to the Holy Land once more.

Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa called the pilgrimage “absolutely safe” and Custos Fra Francesco Patton encouraged people to go “to the Holy Land as pilgrims, to return to the roots of our faith,” and express their “closeness to the small Christian community of the Holy Land.”

Jordan: Where Christianity started

The Jordanian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Lina Annab, reiterated this invitation to return to the Holy Land. In an interview with Vatican News, she stressed the importance of these pilgrimages as Jordan is where the “Christian presence started, where Christians belong.”

In 2024, the number of visitors to the country dropped by almost 4% as a result of different events in the region, including the war between Israel and Hamas. Annab described this as alarming because the Christian presence, “whether historical, current, or future presence, is an integral part of who we are, of our identity.”

With about 30 per cent of the global population identifying as Christians, the historical ties to Jordan have a far-reaching impact. Just recently, on January 31, an exhibition, entitled, “Jordan: Dawn of Christianity” opened at the Vatican presenting “the history, heritage, and rich tradition of Christianity in Jordan through showcasing places of pilgrimages.” It gives visitors a taste of these important holy sites, especially for those who have not been able to travel to the region.

But with the opening of the Jubilee Year of Hope and the ceasefire deal, Annab expressed her hope that trips to Jordan will open up and more people will be visiting the country. She highlighted how visiting Jordan and the different holy sites there can be a “powerful experience that people can come and see and experience the spirituality, the serenity, and the sense of peace that one gets when visiting these sites.”

Jordan: a place of indulgence

One of these holy sites is the place of the Baptism of Jesus at Bethany Beyond the Jordan. At the beginning of the year, the Church of the Baptism of the Lord was inaugurated and named a pilgrimage site for the Jubilee Year, where people can obtain a plenary indulgence.

The Director of the Baptism site, Rustom Mkhjian, explained that beyond being a religious site, it is meant to “be an example to the entire world of how people can live in love and peace.” He described it as a place of ecumenism where people from various religious and political backgrounds have come together: from Catholics and Baptists to royalty from Luxembourg and Sweden.

February 1-7 marks World Interfaith Harmony Week, which was first proposed by Jordanian King Abdullah II at the United Nations in 2010. Director Mkhjian explained that the Baptism site serves a place for this dialogue and communion to occur - where a Jew, Christian, and Muslim visit the site “and the 3 of them cry together."

This scene is what the director stressed the world badly needs today, and the place where these pilgrimages of hope and interfaith encounters are found is “not only the baptismal bible, but Jordan” as a whole.