Photos: Jordan's Catholic Churches mark the 23rd Pilgrimage Day to Baptism Site

For the first time since the pandemic, more than 5000 Catholic Christians attended, on Friday, a special annual mass nearby the banks of the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized according to Christian beliefs. 

The Spokesperson for the Catholic Church Father Rifat Bader said: "This is the first (pilgrimage) day after the end of the coronavirus pandemic."

The mass was organized at the Church of the Baptism of Christ, about 50 kilometers away from the west of the Jordanian capital, Amman.

Before the ceremony, dozens of priests filled containers at the river's edge and played music.

The priests then put their fingers in the water they got from the river and used it to bless the worshipers to commemorate the baptism of Jesus.

The mass was led by Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.

Bader described: "Today... we welcome to this holy site more than 5,000 pilgrims from our cities, villages and Catholic churches."

Last year, 1000 people were permitted to attend the annual mass as the number of received worshipers was restricted in 2021 due to COVID-19.