Stephen Sinolli

November 12, 2022

The "Effetà Paul VI" Institute in Bethlehem, a specialized school for the phonetic reeducation of hearing-impaired children in Palestine, was inaugurated on June 30, 1971. Its origin, however, is rooted in a historical moment, that of St. Paul VI's trip to the Holy Land in 1964. It was a truly unforgettable event, since he was the first pope to return to where everything for Christians had begun. During the trip, Paul VI had the opportunity to note the presence of a large number of deaf children who were not receiving adequate assistance and expressed the desire that a work intended for their rehabilitation be born....

1964: Paul VI visits the Holy Land and leaves two concrete signs

by Stephen Sinolli

Magazine

November 12, 2022

It was January 4, 1964, when Pope Paul VI arrived in Jerusalem, entering through the Damascus Gate on his way to the Holy Sepulcher. Paul VI's was a historic and unforgettable trip to the Holy Land: it was in fact the first time that a successor of Peter returned to the places where Jesus was born and lived, where the Church was born, where "we are all born," as the psalm goes. Those were the years of the Second Vatican Council, and Pope Paul VI strongly wanted that trip....