On September 3, 2025, His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, presided over the Holy Mass at Maria Bambina’s Chapel in the Old City of Jerusalem, on the occasion of the silver jubilee of the Canção Nova Mission in the Holy Land.
In his homily, Cardinal Pizzaballa first celebrated the 20 years of dedicated service of the community in the Holy Land. Noting that, despite the many challenges present in this land, their mission to help broadcast the local Church of the Holy Land to the world continues.
He highlighted the importance of their service to the Church in the Holy Land—providing Christian content with an ecumenical and interreligious dimension, translated into several languages, and presenting the beauty and richness of the Holy Land through news, event coverage, and the liturgy of the Holy Places. All of this, he affirmed, is a sign that the work is carried out in the will of God. “The Universal Church, and specifically the Church of the Holy Land, share one mission: to announce the Kingdom of God, and geography matters in this context.”
Reflecting on the day’s Gospel, His Beatitude focused on the word “must” in the verse: “I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent” (Luke 4:44). Likewise, he said, faith communication in the digital world is a “must” for the Church today. Through media, people can see and touch the essence of this Land, where the History of Salvation began and continues. “Just as Jesus used public spaces to proclaim the Good News, today’s public space is the digital spaces.”
He concluded by encouraging the community, who journey all the way from Brazil, to continue bringing the living Jesus, present at the heart of the Holy Land, to the world. He recalled that what began 20 years ago as an experiment, full of lessons, has been built on trust, devotion to God, and commitment to the mission. He also thanked the Custody of the Holy Land for its constant support of the work of the Christian Media Center.
Their Story and Mission in the Holy Land
The Canção Nova (meaning: News Song) Catholic community was founded in Brazil in 1978 by Msg. Jonas Abib. Its mission is to serve the Church through the usage of media like TV and radio for evangelization, following the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and the Salesian spirituality of Don Bosco. In the Holy Land, the community carries out its mission at the Christian Media Center in partnership with the Custody of the Holy Land. Their work includes the Nazareth and Jerusalem mission fronts, from which they broadcast events and provide information about the region’s religious and cultural diversity.
Cardinal Pizzaballa, then Custos of the Holy Land, once reflected: “How to communicate the Holy Land? Most Christians worldwide knew little about it, and what they knew was only about conflicts. We needed to send a different message. That’s when I turned to Canção Nova.”
In 2007–2008, a partnership was established between the Custody of the Holy Land and Canção Nova, which made possible what later became the Christian Media Center. In 2016, the new Custos, Fr. Francesco Patton, reinforced this vision, supporting formation in communication sciences and expanding live-stream productions.
Photos Credit: George Jaraiseh/Christian Media Center
