This Christmas Eve, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are expected to flock to Rome for the start of the yearlong Jubilee, a rare Catholic tradition during which believers can have their sins forgiven.
A fraction of that — perhaps a few hundred intrepid souls — are likely to make the pilgrimage to Bethlehem, where some theologians say Christianity began with the birth of Jesus.
The contrast between two of the most important cities in Christianity could not be starker at the start of this Jubilee, which is traditionally celebrated only every 25 years. It is a tale of one city that is spending billions of dollars to move itself into the future, eager to show off its unique history with progressive comforts, and another that is mired in a generations-long war where its 34,000 residents struggle to earn a living wage.
In Rome, plywood construction walls and scaffolding temporarily surround landmarks, as workers race to spruce up the city in time for the flood of visitors from around the world.
A different kind of wall, of gray concrete and standing nearly 40 feet high, confronts visitors to Bethlehem, a Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where signs at security checkpoints warn Israelis that entering the area is forbidden and “dangerous to your lives.”
A highlight of the Jubilee in Rome is to pass through the so-called Holy Doors of at least one of four Catholic basilicas designated by the Vatican to receive plenary indulgence — the forgiveness of sins and removal of any afterlife punishment linked to them.
Religious officials at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem are eagerly anticipating an announcement from Pope Francis in December that the Door of Mercy, at the basilica there, will be designated for granting indulgence, too.
“It’s good motivation to increase the number of pilgrims here,” said the Rev. Rami Askarieh, a Franciscan priest at St. Catherine’s Church in Bethlehem, the Catholic parish at the basilica. “There are only a few places they will choose for this, this year.”
Even so, Father Askarieh acknowledged that fewer people will come to Bethlehem than in the past. “Sadly, the war is preventing realizing this indulgence, this celebration of forgiveness,” he said.
Rome is undergoing a huge modernization plan that its mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, said began in earnest to prepare for an estimated 35 million Catholic pilgrims who will visit throughout 2025. The city has budgeted around $4.6 billion on 322 construction projects for the Jubilee visitors, including building a dazzling plaza near St. Peter’s Basilica for pilgrims.
Statues are being cleaned, roads repaired and trash cans installed on corners across downtown. A citywide 5G network and an A.I.-generated app to help make attractions more accessible for visitors will be rolled out in phases throughout next year. And more than one million trees will be planted in Rome, while a new shelter for women and children is being built — two of the kinds of projects that are especially close to the pope’s heart.
That is in the first year alone. Over the next 10 to 15 years, Mr. Gualtieri has called for investing $32 billion to overhaul Rome’s transit systems, create riverside parks, support archaeology digs and install new water pipes, among hundreds of other projects to ensure the Eternal City will remain a destination for centuries to come.
He said that the improvements were years overdue, and that it was the looming Jubilee that pushed him to address them when he was elected in 2021.
“It’s a spiritual opportunity, because the Jubilee is a world event,” Mr. Gualtieri said in an interview late last month in his palatial office overlooking the Roman Forum.
“After the pandemic and in a period of wars, this is a very important event that speaks to the hearts of all men and women, whatever is their faith,” he said. “That is a fantastic thing in itself, but with the Jubilee we have the opportunity to do the investments that Rome has needed.”
A week earlier, sitting in an empty hotel lobby more than 1,400 miles away, Bethlehem’s mayor struggled to express any hope over the upcoming Jubilee.
Christmas Eve is Bethlehem’s biggest night of the year, but Mayor Anton Salman does not expect many visitors this December.
The specter of getting caught in the crossfire of the wars in Gaza and Lebanon has scared away many tourists and prompted airlines to cancel flights to the region. Israeli military checkpoints restrict access to Bethlehem and other parts of the West Bank, and tour groups that used to bring busloads of visitors for Christmas Eve have mostly stopped since their insurance carriers suspended coverage because of the wars.
“I don’t think they are going to take this risk and come for prayer during this challenging time,” Mr. Salman said gloomily. “People are afraid that if they come to the Holy Land, or Bethlehem in particular, they are going to face challenges and problems. So they prefer to delay their visits until later on, when peace will take place.”
As in Rome, tourism has long been the bedrock of Bethlehem’s economy. But Bethlehem residents who invested their savings into hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops, making local crafts or learning to be guides, now account for much of what Mr. Salman said was the city’s 37 percent unemployment rate. Many of the people who do have jobs work for the city, which is relying on an emergency budget of about $390,000 each month just to keep operations up and running.
It is just the latest in a line of events that have devastated Bethlehem.
In 2000, the so-called Great Jubilee that coincided with the turn of the millennium, the city spent what Mr. Salman said was tens of millions of dollars to accommodate visitors for Christmas Eve and throughout the year. But the Second Intifada — a four-year Palestinian uprising against Israel that killed more than 1,000 Israelis and 3,000 Palestinians — began that September, dampening those plans.
Eighteen months later, a standoff between the Israeli military and Palestinian fighters imprisoned about 150 militants, Franciscan monks and civilians inside the basilica in what became known as the Siege of the Church of the Nativity.
It took Bethlehem years to recover, but the tourism business was booming once again by early 2020, when the city was named the Capital of Arab Culture. The annual honor is bestowed by the Arab League and draws visitors to various book fairs, art workshops, theater shows and other exhibitions that, for Bethlehem, were to begin in April 2020.
But that March, the first cases of coronavirus in the West Bank appeared in Bethlehem, and the Arab Culture celebrations were canceled amid a lockdown.
Now, with the wars, Mr. Salman has no illusions that the Jubilee or the promise of forgiven sins will draw people to Bethlehem this Christmas Eve.
With so many pilgrims crowding Rome, Father Askarieh said, perhaps some will seek out other places for plenary indulgence. He is optimistic that the Door of Mercy at the Church of the Nativity will be designated as a Holy Door for the Jubilee, as it was during the 2000 celebration. .
Mr. Salman is doubtful. “Not a lot of people know about it,” he said of the Door of Mercy in Bethlehem, “and, for the time being, it’s not helpful for anything.”
He sent regards to his counterparts in Rome. “We wish them a successful event, and hope that the people who are going to visit Rome can pray to the Almighty to prevail peace in the Middle East and the Holy Land,” Mr. Salman said.
In Rome, where residents bitterly complain about the construction inconveniences and endless stream of tourists, Mr. Gualtieri said the conditions in Bethlehem were “a very good reminder that there is a difference between our problems and the kinds of problems they have.”
“We can imagine how hard this moment is,” Mr. Gualtieri said. “We send a message of solidarity and a message of peace, and hope that people will find a way to go there. Rome is the city of the pope and the capital of Catholics, but Bethlehem is the place where everything started. We feel very close to it.”
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