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This was a record-breaking January for pilgrimages to the Holy Land with 770 visiting groups for a total of 26,000 pilgrims. Statistics show that there has been a steady increase in the number of visits since 2016, the website of the Custody reports, citing the words of Father Tomasz Dubiel, Director of the Christian Information Center (CIC): “in January 2016, 390 groups have booked a mass in the sanctuaries, with the participation of 11,000 pilgrims. In 2017, in the same time period, 16 thousand pilgrims arrived in 529 groups, but in January 2018, the number of groups increased to 770, for a total of 26 thousand pilgrims”. The data confirm those released by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics and relayed by SIR news agency: 3,611,800 arrivals were recorded in 2017, that is, a 23% increase compared to 2016 and a 29% increase compared to 2015. “The number of Catholics doubled in 2018”, the Franciscan said, and “groups of other Christian denominations asking to pray in the sanctuaries are also on the rise”. The data from the Christian Information Center – the body of the Custody of the Holy Land in charge of providing a real-time.

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