Youth from the Holy Land at the WYD in Madrid

More than 500 young people from the Holy Land have left to attend the World Youth Day being held in Madrid. They come from all of the dioceses of Jordan, Israel and Palestine. They are the youth of the Land of Jesus, a land that today is experiencing a very difficult situation. Despite the problems, they left with great enthusiasm to bring their message of peace and justice, and their testimony from the Holy Land, to the Pope and their contemporaries.

In recent years the situation of Christians in the Holy Land has been very difficult, both in the Palestinian Territories and in Israel. As Benedict XVI declared: “It is essential to give firm support and encouragement to those who choose to remain faithful to their homeland in order to prevent it from becoming an archaeological site deprived of ecclesiastical life.” ATS pro Terra Sancta and the Custody of the Holy Land are supporting the Christians of the Holy Land so that the living stones can continue to live alongside the stones of memory.