CWN - Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, the prefect of the Congergation for the Eastern Churches, has written to all the world’s bishops, encouraging support for the annual Good Friday collection, which is taken up for the Church in the Holy Land.
“If the Christians of the Holy Land are encouraged to resist, to the degree possible, the understandable temptation to flee, the faithful throughout the world are asked to take their plight to heart,” Cardinal Sandri wrote. (The letter was also signed by Archbishop Cyril Vasil, the secretary of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches.)
“Presently, there are millions of refugees fleeing Syria and Iraq, where the roar of arms does not cease and the way of dialogue and concord seems to be completely lost,” the letter notes. The annual collection, the Vatican officials say, is an opportunity for all the faithful to become “pilgrims in faith.”
The Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land has provided an accounting of the funds that were received the Good Friday collection last year. The greatest expenditure of emergency funding was for aid to refugees in Syria and Iraq. But the collection also furnished support for craftsmen in Jordan, medical care in Bethlehem, and apartments in Jerusalem for young couples who want to remain in the Holy Land.
Additional sources for this story
Some links will take you to other sites, in a new window.