Exact transliteration: al-Nazira, free transliteration: a-nasira; (Arabic: النَّاصِرَة , Latin: Nazara).
is an ancient city in the northern district of Israel, and is currently the largest Arab city in Israel.
It has a population of 77,000, most of them Arabs – of whom about 71% are Muslims and about 29% are Christians.
According to the New Testament, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her husband St. Joseph lived in Nazareth, where the gospel was given and where Jesus came of age. For this reason, the city houses a number of holy sites for Christianity, headed by sites identified with the Gospel.
The city is a popular destination for visiting pilgrims. It was visited by three popes – Paul VI on January 5, 1964, John Paul II on the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25, 2000, and Pope Benedict XVI held a mass in it and commanded the Basilica of the Annunciation on May 14, 2009.
