HOLY LAND Jordan inaugurates the Church of Baptism, a sign of peace in the Middle East

On January 10, the solemn ceremony presided by Card. Pietro Parolin as papal legate. It stands on land donated by King Abdullah II in the Wadi al Kharar area, where Franciscan archaeologist Michele Piccirillo has unearthed the remains of the churches where the first Christian communities commemorated this evangelical episode, whose bimillennial will be celebrated here in 2030.

Amman (/Agencies) – The Catholic community in Jordan is about to experience a very important moment in the coming days, with the solemn inauguration of the Church of the Baptism of Jesus in Wadi al Kharar, the place in the desert area near the Jordan River where a very ancient tradition identifies the evangelical story of the baptism of Jesus at the hands of John the Baptist. The celebration will take place on Friday, January 10 and will be presided over by the Vatican Secretary of State, Card. Pietro Parolin, whom Pope Francis has named papal legate. About 7,000 people are expected at the celebration, including faithful from the Catholic communities of the Holy Land and guests from abroad.

The rediscovery of the Wadi al Kharar site is the result of research carried out by the great Franciscan archaeologist Friar Michele Piccirillo (died in 2008), who identified this place with the “Bethany beyond the Jordan” mentioned in the Gospel of John and brought to light the traces of some very ancient churches that testify that it was here where the Christian communities of ancient times placed the memory of the baptism of Jesus. The rest was done by the Jordanian royal family, who firmly believed in the potential of this discovery for interfaith dialogue and tourism. Thus, the king donated land to all the Christian denominations present in Jordan, allowing each of them to build a new church in this important location on the banks of the Jordan River.

John Paul II already visited this place in 2000 on his historic jubilee pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In 2009, it was the then Pope Benedict XVI who laid the first stone of the Latin Church here, whose work was visited by Pope Francis in 2014 and which will now be solemnly inaugurated.

The completion of the church in the jubilee year is an important step towards another event for this corner of the Holy Land: the Place of Baptism is, in fact, preparing to celebrate in 2030 the bimillennial of the baptism of Jesus in the waters of the Jordan River. And everyone’s hope is that peace will allow many pilgrims to experience this important anniversary in this Holy Place in Jordan.

Meanwhile, the area continues to be enriched with new spiritual proposals: already last summer, Prince Ghazi bin Mohammed, Senior Advisor to King Abdullah II for Cultural and Religious Affairs and Chairman of the Council of the Baptism Site Authority, officially inaugurated the Trail of John the Baptist. It is a trail about 3 km long, which includes seven different stations marked by biblical meditations. It starts at St. Elijah Hill and then crosses the Wadi Al-Kharar to the baptismal font, the spring of John the Baptist and the remains of the churches that were built here in ancient times in memory of the baptism of Jesus. The route ends in the area of ​​the Latin Church.

Photo: Abouna.org