“A patent sign of solidarity with the Christians in the Holy land” is the pilgrimage that the members of the Permanent Council of the German Bishops Conference are going to undertake in the Holy Land between 26th February and 4th March. The Bishops will be accompanied by the administrators of the 27 dioceses of Germany. The calendar of the journey includes a meeting with the deputy prime minister of Israel, Shimon Peres, the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmud Abbas, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, and the Bishops of the United Churches. Nazareth, Jerusalem and Bethlehem will be the main stopovers, although the pilgrims will not miss a visit to Lake Tiberias and Ramallah. In addition, the Bishops will learn about the work of some Christian centres, such as the School of the Sisters of the Saviour in Nazareth, the visit of the Catholic University of Bethlehem and the children’s hospital of Caritas. One of the highlights will be the visit to the Holocaust memorial Yah Vashem and the visit to the memorial stone dedicated to card. Josef Höffner in the Avenue of the Just. on, 17 February ended the pilgrimage of 580 French pilgrims led by the archbishop of Paris, mgr. Vingt-Trois, with the help of another 5 bishops and over one hundred priests.
