A writer reflects on her 2005 visit, in the Tablet:

The benefit of staying in Bethlehem is being able to choose the time (from 5 a.m. to nightfall) to meditate and pray at the Church of the Nativity, to linger over coffee or a glass of wine in Manger Square and to spend unhurried hours reflecting and pondering. Bethlehem may be small, but it is home to the global Church across time, with the Orthodox, the Roman and the Eastern Churches in Communion with Rome, all sharing the same Arab Palestinian culture. Many liturgies are celebrated with chants dating from the earliest days of the Church: the Syrians use a dialect of Aramaic close to the language of Christ. I joined parishioners for Mass in the Melkite Church celebrating St John Chrysostom’s Rite – and then we had coffee in the church hall. Bethlehem’s heart is open to the world, and it belongs to the world – as expressed in the symbolic passport received last year by Pope Benedict XVI from the mayor of Bethlehem.