BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Thousands of Christians from the world over packed Manger Square in Bethlehem on Monday to celebrate the birth of Jesus in the ancient West Bank town where he was born.
Meanwhile, heralded by the blare of trumpets, Pope Benedict XVI presided over Christmas Eve Mass in a St. Peter’s Basilica packed with tourists, Italians and other faithful.
He marked the Mass with a pressing question: Will people find room in their hectic, technology-driven lives for children, the poor and God?
The pontiff also prayed that Israelis and Palestinians live in peace and freedom,and asked the faithful to pray for strife-torn Syria as well as Lebanon and Iraq.
For Bethlehem’s Palestinian hosts, this holiday season was an especially joyous one, with the hardships of the Israeli occupation that so often clouded previous Christmas Eve celebrations mitigated by the United Nations’ recent recognition of an independent state of Palestine.
In his annual pre-Christmas homily, the top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, said the road to actual freedom was still long, but this year’s festivities were doubly joyful, celebrating “the birth of Christ our Lord and the birth of the state of Palestine.”
“The path [to statehood] remains long and will require a united effort,” added Twal, a Palestinian citizen of Jordan, at the patriarchate’s headquarters in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Then he set off in a procession for the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Jesus’ traditional birthplace. There he was reminded that life on the ground for Palestinians has not changed since the U.N. recognized their state last month in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Twal had to enter the biblical town through a large metal gate in the barrier of towering concrete slabs Israel built between Jerusalem and Bethlehem during a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings in the last decade. The Israeli military, which controls the crossing, said it significantly eased restrictions for the Christmas season.
Israel, backed by the United States, opposed the statehood bid, saying it was a Palestinian ploy to bypass negotiations. Talks stalled four years ago.
Hundreds of people greeted Twal in Manger Square, outside the Church of Nativity. The mood was festive under sunny skies, with children dressed in Christmas finery or in Santa costumes, and marching bands playing in the streets.
After nightfall, a packed Manger Square, resplendent with strings of lights, decorations and a 55-foot Christmas tree, took on a festival atmosphere, as pilgrims mixed with locals.
A choral group from the Baptist Church in Jerusalem performed carols on one side of the square, handing out sheets of lyrics and encouraging others to sing along with songs such as “We Wish You A Merry Christmas.”
Festivities led up to the midnight Mass at St. Catherine’s Church, next to the fourth-century Church of the Nativity, built over the grotto where tradition says Jesus was born.
Devout Christians said it was a moving experience to be so close to the origins of their faith.
“It’s a special feeling to be here, it’s an encounter with my soul and God,” said Joanne Kurczewska, a professor at Warsaw University in Poland, who was visiting Bethlehem for a second time at Christmas.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also visited Bethlehem and said that “peace will prevail from the birthplace of Jesus, and we wish everyone peace and happiness,” according to the official Palestinian Wafa news agency.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a special Christmas greeting, too, wishing Christians “a year of security, prosperity and peace.”
Meanwhile, in Vatican City, Pope Benedict’s ceremony began Monday at 10 p.m. with the blare of trumpets, meant to symbolize Christian joy over the news of Christ’s birthin Bethlehem. The basilica’s main bell tolled outside, and the sweet voices of the Vatican’s boys’ choir wafted across the packed venue.
Christmas Eve Mass at the Vatican traditionally began at midnight, but the start time was moved up years ago so as to give the 85-year-old pontiff more time to rest before his Christmas Day speech. That address is to be delivered at midday today from the basilica’s central balcony.
A smiling Benedict, dressed in gold-colored vestments, waved to photo-snapping pilgrims and applauding churchgoers as he glided up the center aisle toward the ornate main altar of the cavernous basilica on a wheeled platform guided by white-gloved aides. The platform saves him energy.
In his homily, Benedict cited the Gospel account of Mary and Joseph finding no room at an inn and ending up in a stable, which sheltered the baby Jesus. He urged people to reflect upon what they find time for in their busy, technology-driven lives.
“The great moral question of our attitude toward the homeless, toward refugees and migrants takes on a deeper dimension: Do we really have room for God when he seeks to enter under our roof? Do we have time and space for him?” the pope said.
“The faster we can move, the more efficient our timesaving appliances become, the less time we have. And God? The question of God never seems urgent,” Benedict lamented.
The pope worried that “we are so ‘full’ of ourselves that there is no room left for God.” He added, “That means there is no room for others either - for children, for the poor, for the stranger.”
With his voice a bit hoarse, Benedict decried that history has suffered through “misuse of religion,” when belief in one God became a pretext for intolerance and violence. Still, he insisted that where God is “forgotten or even denied, there is no peace either.”
“Let us pray that Israelis and Palestinians be able to live their lives in the peace of the one God and in freedom,” the pope said.
Benedict also mentioned his hope for progress in Syria,which is mired in civil war, as well as Lebanon and Iraq.
Christmas is the high point of the year in Bethlehem, which, like the rest of the West Bank, is struggling to recover from the economic hard times that followed the violent Palestinian uprising against Israel that broke out in late 2000.
Tourists and pilgrims who were scared away by the fighting have been returning in larger numbers. Last year’s Christmas Eve celebration produced the highest turnout in more than a decade, with about 100,000 visitors, including foreign workers and Arab Christians from Israel.
The Israeli Tourism Ministry predicted a 25 percent drop from that level this year, after last month’s clash between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, which put a chill on tourist arrivals. Foreign tourists heading to Bethlehem must pass through Israel or the Israel-controlled border crossing into the West Bank from Jordan.
Outside the town’s quaint Manger Square, Bethlehem is a drab, sprawling town with a dwindling Christian base - a far cry from the pastoral village of biblical times.
About 22,000 Palestinians live in Bethlehem, according to the town council, but combined with several surrounding communities, it has a population of about 50,000 people.
Overall, there are only about 50,000 Christians in the West Bank, less than 3 percent of the population, the result of a lower birthrate and increased emigration. Bethlehem’s Christians make up only a third of its residents, down from 75 percent a few decades ago.
Elias Joha, a 44-year-old Christian who runs a souvenir store, said that even with the U.N. recognition, this year’s celebrations were sad for him. He said most of his family has left and that if he had the opportunity, he would do the same.
“These celebrations are not even for Christians because there are no Christians. It is going from bad to worse from all sides. ... We are not enjoying Christmas as before.”
Located on the southeastern outskirts of Jerusalem, Bethlehem has the highest unemployment in the WestBank, but the tourist boom of Christmas offered a brief reprieve. Officials said all 34 hotels in the town were fully booked for the Christmas season, including 13 new ones built this year.
Israel turned Bethlehem over to Palestinian civil control a few days before Christmas in 1995, and since then, residents have been celebrating the holiday regardless of their religion. Many Muslims took part in celebration Monday as well.
Christians across the region marked the holiday.
In Iraq, Christians gathered for services with tight security, including at Baghdad’s Our Lady of Salvation church, the scene of a brutal October 2010 attack that killed more than 50 worshippers and wounded scores more.
Earlier this month, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, who is responsible for the Vatican’s outreach to the Middle East’s Catholic communities, traveled to Iraq and presided over a Mass to rededicate the church after renovations. In his homily, he remembered those who were killed and expressed hope that “the tears shed in this sacred place become the good seed of communion and witness and bear much fruit,” according to an account by Vatican Radio.
The exact number of Christians remaining in Iraq is not known, but it has fallen sharply from as many as 1.4 million before the U.S.-led invasion nearly a decade ago to about 400,000 to 600,000, according community leaders cited by the U.S. State Department.
Reflecting the Vatican’s concern about the exodus of many fearful Christians from the Muslim-dominated Middle East, Benedict expressed hope in his homily that “Christians in those lands where our faith was born may be able to continue living there” and that Christians and Muslims “build up their countries side by side in God’s peace.”
Hours before the basilica Mass, Benedict lighted a Christmas peace candle on the windowsill of his studio window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.
Information for this article was contributed by Adam Schreck and Frances D’Emilio of the Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/25/2012