“An ‘old’ duty that the history of recent years has made even more urgent”. In his letter, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri invites all Catholics to support the Land of God.
“An ‘old’ duty, that the history of recent years has made even more urgent”: with these words, the Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, stressed the importance of the traditional Collection of Passion Friday dedicated to the Holy Land in his letter sent to the bishops of all the dioceses.
“We cannot remain indifferent: God is not indifferent!”: Cardinal Sandri takes up the words of Pope Francis, exhorting all the faithful of the world, “more than ever” “in this Jubilee Year”, “to show mercy and closeness to the brothers of the Middle East where “people experience the darkness and the fear of abandonment, of loneliness and misunderstanding.”
“Time of trials and challenges, time of martyrdom”, he pointed out in his letter.
“All this drives us to help-continues Cardinal Sandri-to cope with emergencies, to rebuild and find spaces, creating new ways and new meeting and assistance places.”
“Our roots” and “our heart” are in the Holy Land, still recalls the prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, and this is why “we are indebted to those who have gone beyond to bring the faith to the world” and “who have remained there, despite the conflicts that have always tormented this land.”
A land that “summons our charity. Always, today however, with a heightened sense of urgency.”