Vatican City, Feb 15, 2008 / 09:25 am
The head of the Congregation that oversees the Church in the Holy Land, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, has appealed to the Catholic Church to provide assistance to the Christians there, so that “the future may be welcomed with hope.”
The summons to support Christians in the Holy Land went out in the form of a letter to Catholic bishops all over the world, and to their respective Churches.
Cardinal Sandri’s appeal was made on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI, and asked for continued spiritual and material support for the Catholic community in the Holy Land.
"The absence of peace", says the cardinal in the English-language version of the letter, "exacerbates the many long-standing problems as well as the poverty afflicting the region of the Holy Places. That absence also contributes to the creation of new difficulties. Thus, we must recognize that Christians who reside there are a priority for the attention of the entire Catholic Church, together with that of all other Churches and ecclesial communities.”