(Vatican Radio) The Prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, has sent a letter to the bishops of the world, appealing to them for aid to the Church in the Holy Land. Dated Ash Wednesday, 2016, the letter looks forward to the worldwide collection for the Christians of the Holy Land, which is made at Good Friday each year in churches around the globe. “The Collection for the Holy Land,” writes Cardinal Sandri, “reminds us of an ‘ancient’ duty, which the history of recent years has made more urgent, but no less a source of the joy that comes from helping our brothers.” Below, please find the full text of Cardinal Sandri’s letter, in its official English version *********************************** February 10, 2016 Ash Wednesday Your Excellency, Good Friday is the day when evil seemed to triumph, as the Innocent One suffered death on the Cross. It is a day that never seems to end in the Holy Land, where apparently interminable violence must be endured. Broadening our the gaze to the whole world, it is no less difficult to give wings to hope for a serene future. The human heart, restless and troubled, seeks light, life and hope; it wants to walk in brotherhood, together with fellow human beings. Desiring to set out anew, it looks beyond its present condition, longing for a reality that is greater and truer: a salvation already won, yet ever to be striven for. The Good Friday collection rekindles in us this sure hope along with a clearer perception of the evil that surrounds us. It turns our gaze to the Holy Land, to the East whence comes our Redemption. There lie our roots; there lies our heart. We are indebted to those who went out from there, carrying the light of faith to the world. Likewise, we are indebted to those who remained to give witness to that faith, in spite of the conflicts that have always tortured that Land. Nonetheless, the Christians in the Holy Land care for the places marked by the passage of Jesus Himself, allowing us to touch, as it were, the truth of our faith. This Land challenges our charity, as it always has, yet today with a growing urgency. Indeed, every person who lives and works there deserves our prayers and our concrete assistance, so necessary for the continuation of the work of healing wounds and fostering confidently justice and peace. In this Jubilee year, we are urged more than ever to demonstrate our mercy and solicitude for our brothers in the Middle East. Refugees, displaced persons, the elderly, children, and the sick are all in need of our help. In this land of the East, people are dying, being kidnapped and even killed. Many live in agony for their loved ones, or suffer when the family is divided on account of forced migration and exodus. They know the darkness and fear of neglect, of loneliness, of misunderstanding. It is a time of trials and challenges, even of martyrdom. All this necessarily augments our obligation to help, to respond to emergencies, to reconstruct and to invent new ways of meeting the whole gamut of needs. Such acts of mercy, all necessary and urgent, allow us each day to experience that “if the Lord does not build the house, in vain do its builders labor”. We live clinging to the Cross of Good Friday, but sustained by the light of the Resurrection. The Holy Land is a place of dialogue, whose inhabitants never cease dreaming of constructing bridges, and in which the Christian community lives to proclaim the Gospel of Peace. It is a Land of “ecumenism of blood” and at the same time a place of extraordinary normality. “We cannot remain indifferent: God is not indifferent! God cares about mankind, God does not abandon us” (Pope Francis). This care is expressed by our open hands, contributing generously. It can also be shown by making pilgrimages without fear to the places of our salvation, visiting also the schools and centers of assistance, where one can draw near to the local Christians and listen to their stories. The Collection for the Holy Land reminds us of an “ancient” duty, which the history of recent years has made more urgent, but no less a source of the joy that comes from helping our brothers. In conclusion, I assure you of the deepest gratitude of the Holy Father Francis and that of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, which seeks to accompany our brothers and sisters of the East with attentive care. Kindly extend this heartfelt thanks to all the Christian faithful of your particular Church. With most cordial and fraternal greetings in our Lord, I remain Sincerely Leonardo Card. Sandri Prefect ✠ Cyril Vasil’, S.J. Archbishop Secretary (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Here in Mexico city the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas is everywhere. It’s plastered on taxis, in shops, in homes and in the most unlikely places.
No surprise as in the past even Mexican revolutionaries carried her image into battle. She’s ‘Our Lady of Guadalupe’, Patroness of the Americas. She represents the spiritual heart of the nation. Her image is that of a ‘mestizo’, symbolic of that blend of Spanish Catholicism and American religious traditions.
Click below to hear the report from Vatican Radio’s special envoy in Mexico, Veronica Scarisbrick
The same cannot be said for images of Pope Francis around town, they are far and few between. Most of those I saw were related to publicity. But two bumper billboards were significant. They related to two of the three areas of Mexico Pope Francis will be visiting. They are Chiapas along the border with Guatemala home to a large indigenous, population and Michoacàn hotspot of the drug cartels. Chiapas and Michoacàn clearly want to welcome Pope Francis in the capital city as well.
I haven’t seen any relating to the third and last stop on the Pope’s itinerary, Ciudad Juarez on that economic divide represented by the border with the United States. Once dubbed the murder capital of the world it’s where the dreams of a better future for many migrants, those who make it that far, are most often dashed.
But this is the city most featured in the Mexican press right now for a very specific reason. It seems that the families of the forty- three young ‘desaparecidos’ seeking for answers to outcome of their young sons, are going to be sitting in the front rows during Holy Mass. And speculation is rife as to whether there will be a private encounter with Pope Francis.
This lack of images around town doesn’t mean that people don’t know the first Latin American Pope is coming to town on Friday 12 th of February.
Everyone, really everyone I speak to here in the streets, knows their first Latin American pope is going to be riding his pope mobile through the streets here. No surprise as it’s their only chance to catch a glimpse of him close to.
One TV show I came across even featured a toy pope mobile running pone through a ‘maquette’ of Mexico City and newspapers feature cartoons showing aggressive politicians all wanting to jump on to the pope mobile at once.
There’s definitely a warmth surrounding the arrival of Pope Francis here as he comes as ‘missionary of peace’. And I think he’d agree with Mexican Nobel laureate Octavio Paz who once wrote that Our Lady of Guadalupe’s ” inspirational story is impressed on the heart of Mexico”. Adding how “she is the solace of the poor, the shield of the weak and oppressed”. After all Pope Francis has said he is coming here as a pilgrim to spend time with the people of Mexico, to walk with them, especially with those in the ‘peripheries’. To walk with this people that does not forget its Mother , the Mother who forged her people in hope”.
In Mexico City awaiting the arrival of Pope Francis, I’m Veronica Scarisbrick
(from Vatican Radio)…