SUMMARY:
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Collecta pro Terra Sancta: an invaluable opportunity to help
Christians uprooted from their homelands
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Other Pontifical Acts
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Collecta
pro Terra Sancta: an invaluable opportunity to help Christians
uprooted from their homelands
Vatican
City, 10 March 2015 (VIS) – Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of
the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, has written a letter
addressed to all bishops worldwide in view of the “Collecta pro
Terra Sancta”, the collection for the communities of faithful and
places in the Holy Land, which traditionally takes place on Good
Friday. The letter is also signed by Archbishop Cyril Vasil, S.J.,
secretary of the same dicastery.
The
cardinal, noting that the region is passing through a time of crisis,
writes: “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. Senseless hatred
seems to prevail instead, along with the helpless desperation of
those who have lost everything and have been expulsed from the land
of their ancestors. 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. Also involved are brothers in Christ who belonged to
various confessions: an ecumenism of blood which points toward the
triumph of unity: 'ut unum sint'! This year presents a still more
precious opportunity to become pilgrims in faith after the example of
the Holy Father, who in May of last year visited this patch of land,
so dear to Christians, Jews and Muslims alike. It is a chance to
become promoters of dialogue through peace, prayer and sharing of
burdens”.
The
territories that will benefit from the Collection, in different ways
and to differing extents, are: Jerusalem, Palestine and Israel,
Jordan, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Turkey,
Iran and Iraq.
A
document prepared by the Custodian of the Holy Land lists the works
carried out as a result of the 2014 Collecta. The emergency funds
were distributed mostly in Syria and Iraq. Assistance was also
provided for artisanal enterprises in Jordan; funding was given for
parish communities, the reconstruction and restoration of places of
interest and medical assistance in Bethlehem; and apartments were
built in Jerusalem for poor families and young couples who wish to
remain in the Holy Land. The remaining funds were used for projects
involving schools, universities and cultural works, through the
Custodian of the Holy Land, such as the Faculty of Biblical Sciences
and Archaeology of the Studium Biblicum Francescanum of Jerusalem and
the Franciscan Media Centre, and for the maintenance and restoration
of the Holy Places.
Other
Pontifical Acts
Vatican
City, 10 March 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has:
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confirmed Archbishop Piero Marini as president of the Pontifical
Committee for the International Eucharistic Councils.
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appointed the following members of the Pontifical Committee for the
International Eucharistic Councils: Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko,
president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity; Cardinal Robert
Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the
Discipline of the Sacraments; Cardinal Beniamino Stella, prefect of
the Congregation for the Clergy; and Rev. Fr. Juan Javier Flores
Arcas, O.S.B., Spain, Magnificent Rector of the St. Anselm Pontifical
Athenaeum in Rome.
You
can find more information at: www.visnews.org
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news items contained in the Vatican Information Service may be used,
in part or in their entirety, by quoting the source:
V.I.S.
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