Vatican City, Mar 31, 2016 / 12:05 pm
As a sign of affection and closeness, Pope Francis has decided to send vestments used in the liturgy and a financial donation to Christian refugees in Erbil through the Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need.
"Mercy invites us to bend over these brothers of ours in order to dry their tears, to heal their moral and physical wounds, and to console their afflicted and perhaps lost hearts," the Pope said in a letter addressed to Bishop Francesco Cavina of Carpi.
To do this, the Pope said, is not just "an act of proper charity, but a relief to your own body, because all Christians, by virtue of their shared baptism, are 'one' in Christ."
Bishop Cavina will be part of a delegation traveling to Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, April 1-4 with Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).