CV NEWS FEED // The Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti is urging Catholics around the world to help contribute to this year’s traditional Good Friday Collection.
In a letter addressed to Catholic bishops around the world, according to a Vatican News report, Cardinal Gugerotti called on the faithful to do what they can to contribute financially to this year’s Good Friday Collection, which will support Christians living in the Holy Land whose livelihood has been destroyed by the ongoing war in Gaza.
Christian inhabitants of the Holy Land have a historic rule in overseeing pilgrimages, the Cardinal said in his letter. For hundreds of years, pilgrimages were facilitated “by the generous work of the Fransiscans of the Custody of the Holy Land and the Eastern Churches present there.”
Furthermore, he continued, “the Church has continuously and passionately cultivated solidarity with the Church of Jerusalem,” particularly with its custom dating back to the Middle Ages of holding an annual collection for the Holy Land.
This year’s collection will play a very crucial role in ensuring that Christians are even able to remain in the Holy Land rather than “abandon the places where their fathers and mothers prayed and witnessed to the Gospel.”
The Cardinal noted that should these Christians be forced to leave their homeland, “the East will lose part of its soul, perhaps forever.”
“Make them feel the solidarity of the Church!” he said, before speaking on Pope Francis’ behalf in thanking “all those who pray for and make a contribution for the Holy Land.”
