The Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land was established in 1994 and serves as the humanitarian arm of the Custodia di Terra Santa. FFHL's primary aim is to stem the Christian exodus from the Holy Land as well as to secure social justice, mitigate suffering and foster world wide awareness of the plight of the region's 'forgotten faithful'. Many of the world's Christians have no idea of the harsh condition under which Christians live in the Holy Land or that their numbers are diminishing. Our Christian brothers and sisters have been the "Guardians of Christianity" for centuries. They have been keeping the Holy Sites for the benefit of Christians worldwide and are now finding themselves in a very difficult situation.

As of 2007 there are some 9 million people residing in Israel proper including the West Bank and Gaza. Out of that population, there are 5.2 million of the Jewish faith, 3.8 million of the Muslim faith and only l60, 000 Christians. In 1900, the Christians numbered 13.3% of the total population of that land. Today it is under 2%. In the early nineties, the Franciscan Foundation set up task committees in Jerusalem to study this problem of the Christian exodus. We spoke to numerous Church leaders as well as the Christian laity, both young and old and it was concluded that if we wanted to begin to stem this exodus, we needed to become more involved in three specific areas:

1. Provide college scholarships at local universities in the country and most notably at Bethlehem University and the Hebrew University which would help integrate them into the economic and social life of Palestinian and Israeli society.
2.  Assistance in finding employment opportunities.
3.  The construction of housing in the Holy Land for Christian families.
4.  Humanitarian Aid in the fields of medical assistance, child sponsorship programs, family centers, and the distribution of food, clothing, furniture, etc'.

For more information about the Franciscan Foundation please visit www.ffhl.org