In a letter recently sent to Bishops throughout the world Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, the new Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, cited the good work being undertaken in the Holy Land, especially after the terrible earthquakes in Syria and Turkiye, saying:
… many houses of Franciscan Friars and Sisters, as well as those of other Religious Orders and Congregations, have become tents and shelters for the displaced in Syria as in Turkey. More generally throughout the Holy Land, they remain sources of hope by caring for the littlest ones, educating schoolchildren and youth, accompanying mothers in difficulty, attending to the elderly and the sick, as well as offering housing projects for new families and creating jobs, so that it is worthwhile continuing to stay in the Places of Salvation.
Alluding to the Holy See’s annual appeal for a Good Friday Collection in support of these works in the Holy Land, he added:
The Holy Father, Pope Francis, following his predecessors, this year too has instructed the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches to revive the invitation to solidarity with the Christian community of the Holy Land … The material gesture to which he calls us is accompanied above all by a word that rekindles our sense of keeping alive the memory of the origins, … The Church spread throughout the world with the preaching of the Apostles, and each of us through Baptism, has become a stone called to remain united to the foundation, which is Christ the Lord, in order to construct a spiritual building. In Jerusalem are our wellsprings, and we want to remain united with the brothers and sisters who continue to testify to the Gospel there. Let us cherish the historical memory of the Upper Room, … Let us reinforce the spaces of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, … Let us maintain the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, … Let us join the rejoicing angels in the mosaics of the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem, but let us take care of those who are born and remain on the margins of our society, like the Holy Child in the cave, surrounded only by shepherds.
Passionately appealing to the gracious cooperation of Bishops and parish priests, and the generosity of all people, he asks and concludes his letter saying:
I ask you with all my heart that the Good Friday Collection therefore be generous, like so many “mites” of the widow praised by Jesus in the Gospel.
On behalf of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, I thank the bishops, the parish priests, all the religious and parish communities, as well as the commissioners of the Holy Land, who everywhere in the world help to achieve this annual pilgrimage to the sources of Christian existence. Thanks, especially on behalf of those who, through your goodness, will return to a more dignified life.
