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Catholic Bishops in North Africa have decried the ongoing conflicts in the Holy Land and across Africa, emphasizing that war is a failure of peace and violence only deepens suffering.
The archbishop of Toledo and primate of Spain, Francisco Cerro Chávez, stressed in a recent letter the need to support the Christians in the Holy Land.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, urged the faithful "to cherish the desire for encounter, to cultivate freedom in relation to all, to overcome ethnic, religious, and identity boundaries."
The weekend before Christmas began with an evening of prayer and music at the Church of St. Saviour, the Latin parish of Jerusalem.
The Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem reported that two women were shot by the IDF on Dec. 16.
The strands of lights are falling down one after another, forming a kind of curtain of threads in front of the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Following the municipality’s decision to suspend Christmas events and remove decorations, workers are busy dismantling the light canopy on Nativity Square and at other locations in the city.
The Israel-Hamas war has brought challenges to Hebrew Catholics in Israel, but the diverse and vibrant community holds on to its faith as a guide and consolation.
Dioceses covered by the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC) are to celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King that marks the conclusion of the Liturgical year by praying for peace in the Holy Land.
Vatican’s secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin said any mediation would have to take into account "the issue of Israeli settlements, security, and the issue of the city of Jerusalem."
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa has urged Catholics to organize times of prayer with Eucharistic adoration and recitation of the rosary.
The Lenten Holy Land collection will be moved to September this year because of the suspension of public Masses in many places in the world due to the coronavirus, the Vatican stated Thursday.