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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   For more information and to search for documents refer to the site:   
   www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va   
      
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