Cardinal Ignace Moussa I Daoud, prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, refers in an appeal letter to “the present dramatic situation” in the region that “requires us to give even greater attention to this Church also in material terms.”
“The Christians in the Holy Land are in a particular way prone to feel isolated and abandoned,” states the letter, published at the Vatican’s Web page.
“That is why they need to experience the evangelical charity, which binds us all together in Christ, and the support of the whole Church, which connects us more closely to our Christian roots,” the cardinal’s letter says.
The Vatican congregation coordinates this support of the universal Church and to make it effective and fair.
By explicit will of the popes, since 1618, the Church dedicates Good Friday to prayer and almsgiving on behalf of the Catholic community in the Holy Land.
