Faithful return to Jesus baptism site in Jordan after COVID lull

Thousands of Catholic Christians attended Friday a special mass on the banks of the Jordan River in an annual pilgrimage to the site where faithful believe Jesus Christ was baptised.

"This is the first (pilgrimage) day after the end of the coronavirus pandemic," said Father Rifat Bader, spokesperson for the Catholic Church in Jordan.

The annual event was limited in 2021 to members of the clergy amid strict restrictions to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Video: AHMAD SHOURA / AFPTV / AFP

Last year, 1,000 people were allowed to attend, Bader told a press conference ahead of the ceremony in Al-Maghtas, or Bethany Beyond the Jordan.

More than 5,000 people joined this year’s mass at the Church of the Baptism of Christ, some 50 kilometres west of the capital Amman, an AFP photographer said.

Before the ceremony started, dozens of priests filled jugs at the river’s edge as scouts played music.

The priests then dipped their fingers in the water they drew from the Jordan River and used it to bless the congregation, emulating the baptism of Jesus.

Pierbattista Pizzaballa (centre), the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, leads a mass at the Church of the Baptism of Christ.

The mass was led by...