Jordan

| VATICAN – HOLY LAND

Leo XIV has approved the election of the new leader of the Franciscan presence in the Holy Places, following in the footsteps of the saint of Assisi. Italian, 55 years old, the new custos takes over from Francesco Patton who has reached the end of his mandate. For the Minister General of the Friars Minor Massimo Fusarelli, "The particular context of conflict and violence” in the Holy Land and in the Middle East “makes our mission in these places even more urgent.”


The water plant will be built in cooperation with a French group and will provide 300 million cubic metres of drinking water. It will be the country's largest infrastructure serving three million citizens; four years to completion. It will replace an earlier project studied with Israel that was supposed to connect the Dead Sea and the Red Sea.

| 13/01/2025
| JORDAN

The Vatican Secretary of State, who presided over the consecration of the Latin Church at Al-Maghtas on behalf of Pope Francis, made a new appeal for a ceasefire, hostage release, and peace based on coexistence between peoples. For Card Pizzaballa, the new church is “a gift from the local Church” to pilgrims from all over the world. Priests and Sisters of the Incarnate Word will provide spiritual outreach at the site. Gaza’s parish priest belongs to the same institute.

| 10/01/2025
| JORDAN

Card Pietro Parolin will preside over the solemn ceremony as papal legate on 10 January. The structure stands on land in the Wadi al-Kharrar area donated by King Abdullah II where the Franciscan archaeologist Michele Piccirillo excavated some of the churches built by the first Christian communities to remember the Gospel story, whose two-thousandth anniversary will be celebrated here in 2030.

| 04/01/2025
| HOLY LAND
by Daniele Frison

Two days after the attack on the Allenby crossing, Jordan goes to the polls with a population deeply marked by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While the government maintains its delicate diplomatic balancing act, Caritas Jordan continues its work in support of the local and refugee communities, with a particular focus on the latest arrivals from Sudan. For Lana Snobar, “Dealing with mental health significantly improves our communities.”

| 10/09/2024
| GATEWAY TO THE EAST

Today's news: 2.3 billion deal between Emirates and Jordan for a railway line. Beijing ‘warns’ students with access to sensitive data about national security risks. Over 100,000 people at the torchlight procession in Kolkata a month after the rape and murder of a female doctor. One thousand civilians ‘trapped’ in a Buddhist monastery by fighting in the Sagaing region of Myanmar.

| 05/09/2024
| ASIA TODAY
by Dario Salvi

In AsiaNews, the Jordanian scholar underlines the degree of ‘autonomy’ with which Nasrallah moves, who has turned Lebanon into the ‘front line’ to protect Tehran's interests. The militias supported by the Islamic Republic in the various countries of the Middle East are useful in pursuing the strategy of chaos. Pezeshkian ‘dialogue’ face with the West to ease sanctions.

| 27/08/2024
| GATEWAY TO THE EAST
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“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”