Bishops’ Holy Land pilgrimage: A roadmap in the land of milk and honey

(Vatican Radio) On the third day of their annual six day pilgrimage to the Holy Land, a delegation of bishops from Europe and North America travelled from Bethlehem to Jordan in a show of support for the suffering and vulnerable in the region. Part of the Coordination of Episcopal Conferences in Support of the Church of the Holy Land and the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land (Holy Land Coordination), the bishops are urging Churches and the international community to more effectively respond to the humanitarian emergencies caused by the conflict in Syria and continued refugee crises from other Mideast wars.

The bishops also visited the new American University of Madaba in central Jordan, an educational venture launched by the Catholic Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, himself a Madaba native.

Veronica Scarisbrick is travelling with the bishops in the Holy Land and reports from this biblical “land of milk and honey” that Pope Benedict XVI laid the first cornerstone of the university in May 2009.

“It aims to be a beacon of light for the entire Middle Eastern area and beyond,” says Veronica. “To date, students come from 53 different nationalities” to attend the institution which is intended as “a model roadmap for an oasis of peace and understanding, a roadmap of science and wisdom.”

The university in Madaba will be inaugurated in an official ceremony by King Abdullah II this May.

Listen to Veronica Scarisbrick’s report from Allenby Bridge: