Pope to Send Holy Thursday Collection to Haiti

(Tues.23 March, 2010) Pope Benedict XVI's Holy Week schedule has been finalized, and he has named Haiti, as the beneficiary of the collection from the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper. The Holy See released on Monday the schedule of the Pope's Holy Week celebrations.
On Palm Sunday, March 28, he will celebrate a morning Mass in St. Peter's Square and the diocesan-level World Youth Day. There will be the customary two Masses on Holy Thursday, the chrism morning Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, and the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper in the Basilica of St. John Lateran. The collection from the second Mass will go to the reconstruction of the seminary in Haiti, which was destroyed by the earthquake in January. Some 26 diocesan and religious seminarians died in the earthquake, as did the Archbishop of Port-au-Prince. On Good Friday, April 2, the Holy Father will celebrate the Passion of the Lord in the evening in St. Peter's Basilica, followed by the late evening Way of the Cross in Rome’s Coliseum. He will preside over the Easter Vigil in St. Peter's Basilica, and on Easter Sunday morning, will celebrate Mass in Rome’s St. Peter's Square, at the conclusion of which, he will give his blessing "urbi et orbi", to the city of Rome and the world.