(25 Dec 2022)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bethlehem, West Bank - 25 December 2022
1. Wide of exterior of Church of the Nativity
2. Church of the Nativity bell tower
3. Interior of Church of Nativity, worshippers
4. Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa among other religious figures bowing before entering altar of the Church of Nativity
5. Pizzaballa at altar
6. Wide of worshippers
7. Various of Christmas morning service led by Pizzaballa
8. Choir singing
9. Various of Pizzaballa during service
10. Wide of worshippers
11. Cross
12. Wide of exterior of Church of the Nativity
STORYLINE:
The top Catholic clergyman in the Holy Land held a Christmas morning Mass at Bethlehem’s Church of Nativity on Sunday, following a day of celebrations in the city’s Manger Square.
Hundreds of churchgoers attended the service which was led by Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa.
On Saturday, the biblical town of Bethlehem marked a merry Christmas with thousands of visitors descending upon the traditional birthplace of Jesus as it rebounds from the coronavirus pandemic.
Tourism is the economic lifeblood of this town in the occupied West Bank, and for the past two years, the pandemic kept international visitors away.
This year, tourists are back, hotels are full and shopkeepers reported a brisk business in the run-up to the holiday.
Although the numbers have not reached pre-pandemic levels, the return of visitors has palpably raised spirits in Bethlehem.
AP Video shot by Aref Tufaha
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