The Latin Patriarch Emeritus of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, has urged Christians to acknowledge the little town of Bethlehem as it actually is this Christmas, not as it is depicted in song and tradition. “Amid the nostalgia and ancient memories of the first Christmas in Bethlehem, there is today a long sustained religious romanticism,” he said. […]
Patriarch Sabbah: “When you celebrate Christmas, remember that in Bethlehem, in Jerusalem, life is not a Christmas life. It is not the blessed life of the new redeemed humanity. The song of the Angels is far away.”