Franciscan Custos on Jerusalem Easter celebrations, Good Friday Collection
(Vatican Radio) The Franciscan Custos of the Holy Land has described this year’s
coinciding of Easter among the different Christian denominations as a challenge but
a “wonderful experience” for pilgrims coming to Jerusalem.
Orthodox churches
and the Catholic and Protestant communities all celebrate Easter on the same day this
year.
“It is wonderful to celebrate all together, “ says Fr. Pierbattista
Pizzaballa, “but from the practical point of view, it is very problematic because
we are celebrating different liturgies in the same place and at the same hours.”
Listen
to Giada Aquilino's interview with Fr. Pizzaballa:
Catholic
and different Orthodox communities celebrate Easter in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
in Jerusalem, sometimes in a jumble of liturgies which has led to tensions.
But
despite the sometimes chaotic atmosphere, Fr. Pizzaballa adds “it is a wonderful experience
for the pilgrims that come from abroad to see, in the confusion typical of the Middle
East, all the celebrations in this atmosphere of feasts and joy.”
For centuries,
and by papal mandate, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land has maintained and cared
for the holy places in the Holy Land.
Good Friday Collection
Each
year, the Catholic Church urges the faithful to contribute to the Good Friday Collection
which is taken up in parishes around the globe to help preserve these sites and to
help the Christian community in the Holy Land.
“Most of the collection goes
for the support of the Christian communities,” explains Fr. Pizzaballa, “the schools,
especially in Jericho and Bethlehem, for job creation, for the restoration of the
houses of the Christians, and part of this…also goes to the Christians in Syria.”
Fr.
Pizzaballa says in Jordan, Pope Francis will be visiting groups of Syrian refugees
during his upcoming May pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
“This is a little symbol
of closeness and readiness to help not only the Christians, but all the refugees of
Syria and inhabitants of Syria who are suffering this (atrocious) war.”