Originally published at Southern Cross
VATICAN CITY — While anchored in the hope that comes from Jesus’ resurrection, Catholics should not forget the “tears, despair and destruction everywhere” they have seen in images from the Middle East, a top Vatican official said.
Terrorism and a massive military response to it are threatening the lives of Christians in the Holy Land who ensure that the places associated with the life, death and resurrection of Jesus are not simply museums, but witness to a living faith in him, said Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches.
In a letter released by the Vatican March 17, the cardinal pleaded with bishops around the world to take up the annual collection for the Holy Land on Good Friday, which is April 18 this year.
St. Paul VI formalized the annual collection in 1974 to promote and maintain “a strong bond between the faithful across the world and the Holy Places,” the Vatican explained. The collection “is the main source of material support for Christian life in the Holy Land and a tool for the universal Church to express solidarity with the ecclesial communities of the Middle East.”
Funds are used for the upkeep of shrines like
