After two years of war, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, celebrated with thousands of Catholic faithful the feast of Our Lady Queen of Palestine in her sanctuary in Deir Rafat, 26 kilometers from Jerusalem, in the Holy Land.
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In a video published on October 28, the Latin Patriarchate reported on the feast celebrated on Saturday the 25th, when thousands of faithful once again filled the Marian sanctuary with hymns and prayers dedicated to the Mother of God, who received the title of Queen of Palestine in the 1920s from Patriarch Luigi Barlassina.
“This year we are very happy to see so many people from all our Church in Palestine, from Galilee and even some from Jordan, present here under the protection of the Blessed Virgin. We are very happy about this,” said Cardinal Pizzaballa about the celebration.
“I think this moment also symbolizes the desire for a new beginning for our Church. We need to turn the page and not focus solely on the conflict and all the problems we continue to have. We must look forward,” he continued.
The cardinal also took advantage of the occasion to invite pilgrims to visit the sanctuary in the Holy Land: “And I also tell all those who could not come, due to the restrictions of permits and borders, not to be afraid. We will work so that next year everyone can come without any restrictions and, if they cannot come, we will go to them,” he assured.
A pilgrim present at the site, Barbara Frua, commented that she came to the Marian shrine from Germany “to bring hope to Christians in these difficult times and to join them in prayer.”
“Today my heart is full of joy as we celebrate the feast of Our Lady Queen of Palestine. She is our mother, who is always with us in love and prayer. Mary, who humbly and faithfully said yes, also inspires us to say yes to Jesus, trusting completely in His power and guidance in our lives,” said Latife Msheal, from the Galilee youth secretariat, in turn.
“Our hope is alive today, renewed every day, and points us towards a better tomorrow. I wish you all a happy holiday, and may Mary always intercede for us and surround us with her love,” he added.
The celebration concluded with the solemn procession with the image of Our Lady of Palestine, before which the faithful recited the prayer dedicated to her, “entrusting her with their hope of being true witnesses of peace in this holy land,” said the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
Walter Sánchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.