Revered relic of the Nativity heads back to Bethlehem

A wooden fragment said to be from the crib of the infant Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on Friday on its way back to Bethlehem after a millenium-long absence.

The relic, housed in Rome since the seventh century, was presented to the Franciscan custodians of the Holy Land at a mass in the Notre Dame Catholic centre opposite the walls of Jerusalem's Old city.

It will be taken to Bethlehem on Saturday, in time for the traditional lighting of the Christmas tree in Manger Square.

The city, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, is believed to have been the birthplace of Jesus.

The chief custodian for the Holy Land, Francesco Patton, said that the relic was sent from Bethlehem to Rome around the year 640 as gift to Pope Theodore I from Sophronius, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.

"The pope in Rome was Theodore, and he had Palestinian roots," Patton told AFP after the Friday morning mass.

Now, over a thousand years later it is returning to the city where it will be installed "forever" in Saint Catherine's church, adjoining the Basilica of the Nativity, he said.

"This is the first time that a the wooden part of the manger comes back," Patton added.

"Of course not the entire wooden structure because it is very fragile and it is impossible to transport from Rome to here."