Card. Sandri urges solidarity with Christians in the Holy Land
February 26, 2013: The gospel message of compassion illumines the need for the Good
Friday Collection in support of our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land. Together
with their pastors, they live the mystery of Christ, crucified and risen for the
salvation of mankind, wrote Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation
for the Oriental Churches, in a letter to all bishops, on Tuesday. The Letter is sent
out annually at Easter to all the Bishops to sensitize them to solidarity with Christians
in the Holy Land. Recalling the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican
Council, the letter noted that “among the first fruits of the new awareness brought
by the Council was the Encyclical Pacem in Terris of Blessed John XXIII, which
raises in this year of faith a pressing call for peace, especially in Syria, whose
tragic path represents a threat to the entire Near East.
The Cardinal also
noted the admirable example of this same compassion shown by Pope Benedict XVI. He
said these were evident in his Pastoral visit to Lebanon last September, his constant
mention of the region’s woes in the Angelus, in his audiences and in his messages
to various people and institutions. For this coming Good Friday, the Pope has invited
two young Lebanese Maronites to write the text for the ‘way of the cross’ procession
in Rome.
In the widest sense, the Cardinal added, the Land of Jesus is composed
of Israel and Palestine, Cyprus, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt. The Christians
living in all these countries must find in us the same attitude of solidarity in the
faith. The generous assistance received from Catholics around the world maintains
the Holy Sites, as well as the communities that live there, added the Cardinal.