Bands play in the narrow streets of the Old City as the Pope meets with families of the imprisoned

extract from PNN article

The Papal Mass concluded with President Mahmoud Abbas, Abu Mazen, Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad and Bethlehem Mayor Dr. Victor Batarseh. A high number of ministers and Palestinian officials also participated, along with international consuls accredited to the Palestinian National Authority, a large number of faithful Christians and a considerable number of families of Palestinian prisoners and deportees, who were exiled from the Church of the Nativity during the siege in 2002. The Pope exchanged a few words with families and showed compassion for the suffering of their children forcibly detained in Israeli prisons.