Christians now make up just 17 per cent of the population of Bethlehem as young people continue to emigrate to other countries, according to a Catholic parish priest there.
Agenzia Fides reports that Rami Asakrieh, parish priest in Bethlehem of the church of Santa Caterina – located near the Basilica of the Nativity, said his parish was facing “serious problems”.
“The number of Catholic families in Bethlehem is shrinking. Now our parish has only 1,479 Palestinian families. Christians make up 17 per cent of the city’s population, while in the past they were 90 per cent”.
Fr Rami linked the declining number to an exodus of young Christians to other countries. He said that while they “try to stop emigration, trying to provide help in many situations of need”, the current political and economic situation of the town has seen the number of cases of “unemployed faithful, who are depressed and drowned in debts, multiplying”.
He said there were numerous groups which were using the name Bethlehem which didn’t send any kind of help to the Christians living there.
Bethlehem is recorded in the Bible as being the birthplace of Jesus Christ.
