Card. Sandri on Good Friday collection for the Holy Land

(Vatican Radio) Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, head of the Vatican’s Congregation for Eastern Churches has called on Catholics around the world to give generously to the Good Friday collection that traditionally goes to support the Church in the Holy Land.

In an interview with the news agency of the Italian Bishops Conference (SIR) the cardinal talks about the importance of contributing to the upkeep of the sacred sites, while at the same time supporting the search for peace in the land where Jesus lived.

Faced with the events that “take place in this troubled region of the world”, the cardinal says, there is a risk that we see them as unconnected to our own lives, “as if we had no responsibility”.

But by taking part in this annual collection for the Holy Land, he says, Catholics can personally contribute to combatting “war, poverty, terrorism, violence, division”.

The collection for the Holy Land has been supported by the different popes over the decades, he says, to “keep a strong bond between all Christians across the world and the Holy Places”. Beyond being a vital source of support for those holy places, the cardinal adds, it is also “a tool that the Church has” to support the ecclesial communities of the broader Middle East region.