With no Christmas tree or decorations adorning the Church of the Nativity, revered as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, holiday cheer was absent in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem on Tuesday.

Hundreds gathered at the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem in the West Bank as the leader of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land marked the second Christmas Midnight Mass under the shadow of the war in Gaza.

Later during the Christmas season, you might want to watch the 1949 film Come to the Stable that tells the story of Regina Laudis Abbey and whose main characters, two nuns played by Loretta Young and Celeste Holm, are based on the actual Benedictine nuns who came from France after World War II to establish it. It’s a much neglected classic.