Bethlehem Nativity Church reopens after coronavirus closure

26 May 2020, 1:20 pm

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Bethlehem’s storied Church of the Nativity reopens to visitors, after a nearly three-month closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The church, built over the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born, was closed on March 5 as the first cases of the virus were reported in the West Bank.

The church is one of Christianity’s most sacred shrines and the closure came ahead of the busy Easter holiday season that typically draws tens of thousands of visitors and worshipers.

A priest walks past the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, a day after spraying sanitizers as a preventive measure against the coronavirus, on March 6, 2020. (Musa Al Shaer/AFP)

Bishop Theophylactos, a Greek Orthodox cleric, calls the reopening a day of celebration for Bethlehem since “all the people now can enter the church and pray like before.”

— AP