Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin will consecrate Friday a new Catholic church at the traditional site of Jesus’ baptism in Jordan.
The cardinal will preside at the Jan. 10 dedication and inauguration of the Church of the Baptism of the Lord at Al-Maghtas, also known as the Baptism Site “Bethany Beyond the Jordan.”
According to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the church will be “one of the largest in the Middle East, joining esteemed places of pilgrimage and prayer like the Church of the Annunciation, the Church of the Nativity, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.”
