After two Christmas seasons in which the political reality had overtaken holiday cheer, people seemed primed to finally feel some merriment in Bethlehem.
"It is very encouraging to witness the faith of the community of Christians living in that enclosed space and also in the midst of a huge Muslim community majority," said Cardinal Nichols.
The ancient Christian population of Bethlehem is fast disappearing. One of the few remaining Palestinian Christians explains what it feels like to celebrate Christmas there today.
Escalating violence between Israel and Palestine has left at least 213 Palestinians and 12 people in Israel dead since the outbreak of hostilities on May 11. In 2014, we spoke to Israeli Jesuit Father David Neuhaus on the more than six decades of conflict in the Holy Land.