Franciscan Custos on Jerusalem Easter celebrations, Good Friday Collection

(Vatican Radio) The Franciscan Custos of the Holy Land has described this year’s coinciding of Easter among the different Christian denominations as a challenge but a “wonderful experience” for pilgrims coming to Jerusalem.Orthodox churches and the Catholic and Protestant communities all celebrate Easter on the same day this year. “It is wonderful to celebrate all together, “ says Fr. Gianbattista Pizzaballa, “but from the practical point of view, it is very problematic because we are celebrating different liturgies in the same place and at the same hours.”Listen to Giada Aquilino's interview with Fr. Pizzaballa: Catholic and different Orthodox communities celebrate Easter in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, sometimes in a jumble of liturgies which has led to tensions.But despite the sometimes chaotic atmosphere, Fr. Pizzaballa adds “it is a wonderful experience for the pilgrims that come from abroad to see, in the confusion typical of the Middle East, all the celebrations in this atmosphere of feasts and joy.”For centuries, and by papal mandate, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land has maintained and cared for the holy places in the Holy Land.Good Friday CollectionEach year, the Catholic Church urges the faithful to contribute to the Good Friday Collection which is taken up in parishes around the globe to help preserve these sites and to help the Christian community in the Holy Land.“Most of the collection goes for the support of the Christian communities,” explains Fr. Pizzaballa, “the schools, especially in Jericho and Bethlehem, for job creation, for the restoration of the houses of the Christians, and part of this…also goes to the Christians in Syria.”Fr. Pizzaballa says in Jordan, Pope Francis will be visiting groups of Syrian refugees during his upcoming May pilgrimage to the Holy Land. “This is a little symbol of closeness and readiness to help not only the Christians, but all the refugees of Syria and inhabitants of Syria who are suffering this (atrocious) war.”

Feed: