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.