VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 049
DATE 10-03-2015

Summary:
- Collecta pro Terra Sancta: an invaluable opportunity to help Christians
uprooted from their homelands
- Other Pontifical Acts

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 Collecta pro Terra Sancta: an invaluable opportunity to help Christians
uprooted from their homelands
 Vatican City, 10 March 2015 (VIS) - Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the
Congregation for the Oriental Churches, has written a letter addressed to all
bishops worldwide in view of the "Collecta pro Terra Sancta", the collection
for the communities of faithful and places in the Holy Land, which
traditionally takes place on Good Friday. The letter is also signed by
Archbishop Cyril Vasil, S.J., secretary of the same dicastery.
 The cardinal, noting that the region is passing through a time of crisis,
writes: "Presently, there are millions of refugees fleeing Syria and Iraq,
where the roar of arms does not cease and the way of dialogue and concord
seems to be completely lost. Senseless hatred seems to prevail instead, along
with the helpless desperation of those who have lost everything and have been
expulsed from the land of their ancestors. If the Christians of the Holy Land
are encouraged to resist, to the degree possible, the understandable
temptation to flee, the faithful throughout the world are asked to take their
plight to heart. Also involved are brothers in Christ who belonged to various
confessions: an ecumenism of blood which points toward the triumph of unity:
'ut unum sint'! This year presents a still more precious opportunity to become
pilgrims in faith after the example of the Holy Father, who in May of last
year visited this patch of land, so dear to Christians, Jews and Muslims
alike. It is a chance to become promoters of dialogue through peace, prayer
and sharing of burdens".
 The territories that will benefit from the Collection, in different ways and
to differing extents, are: Jerusalem, Palestine and Israel, Jordan, Cyprus,
Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Turkey, Iran and Iraq.
 A document prepared by the Custodian of the Holy Land lists the works carried
out as a result of the 2014 Collecta. The emergency funds were distributed
mostly in Syria and Iraq. Assistance was also provided for artisanal
enterprises in Jordan; funding was given for parish communities, the
reconstruction and restoration of places of interest and medical assistance in
Bethlehem; and apartments were built in Jerusalem for poor families and young
couples who wish to remain in the Holy Land. The remaining funds were used for
projects involving schools, universities and cultural works, through the
Custodian of the Holy Land, such as the Faculty of Biblical Sciences and
Archaeology of the Studium Biblicum Francescanum of Jerusalem and the
Franciscan Media Centre, and for the maintenance and restoration of the Holy
Places.

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 Other Pontifical Acts
 Vatican City, 10 March 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:
 - confirmed Archbishop Piero Marini as president of the Pontifical Committee
for the International Eucharistic Councils.
 - appointed the following members of the Pontifical Committee for the
International Eucharistic Councils: Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the
Pontifical Council for the Laity; Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; Cardinal
Beniamino Stella, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy; and Rev. Fr.
Juan Javier Flores Arcas, O.S.B., Spain, Magnificent Rector of the St. Anselm
Pontifical Athenaeum in Rome.

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