(Vatican Radio) Bishops of the Holy Land Coordination are continuing their visit to the Holy Land this week. Church leaders from North America, Europe, and South Africa make an annual pilgrimage of solidarity to the region.On Tuesday, the group visited Immaculate Heart Parish in Fuheis, Jordan, located just outside of the capital, Amman.There they celebrated Mass with bishops and priests of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.“The Patriarchate covers four states: Cyprus Israel Palestine and Jordan,” explained the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal.Listen to the Vatican Radio interview with Patriarch Twal: “Each country is different from the other. We have different challenges,” he continued.“In Cyprus we are a minority. The big number is workers from the Philippines, and some English people coming to spend their last life in Cyprus,” Patriarch Twal told Vatican Radio. “In Israel, the big problem is the occupation…w...
(Vatican Radio) Bishops of the Holy Land Coordination are continuing their visit to the Holy Land this week. Church leaders from North America, Europe, and South Africa make an annual pilgrimage of solidarity to the region.
On Tuesday, the group visited Immaculate Heart Parish in Fuheis, Jordan, located just outside of the capital, Amman.
There they celebrated Mass with bishops and priests of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
“The Patriarchate covers four states: Cyprus Israel Palestine and Jordan,” explained the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal.
Listen to the Vatican Radio interview with Patriarch Twal:
“Each country is different from the other. We have different challenges,” he continued.
“In Cyprus we are a minority. The big number is workers from the Philippines, and some English people coming to spend their last life in Cyprus,” Patriarch Twal told Vatican Radio. “In Israel, the big problem is the occupation…with the consequence the emigration of our Christians outside. That is a drama for us.”
He said that Jordan provides stability for the Church, which is able to function freely.
“We can meet gather, we can meet, we can move,” Patriarch Twal said. “We are happy to give good witness welcoming all the refugees from Syria, from Iraq.”
He also praised the work Caritas is doing to help the less fortunate in the country.
Chaldean Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako presides over the dedication ceremony of the altar of the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Mosul, Iraq. April 5, 2024. / Credit: Fadi Dinkha/ACI MenaCNA Newsroom, Apr 18, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).When the altar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chaldean Catholic Church was consecrated earlier this month in Mosul, Iraq, a former parishioner now living in the United States said she was moved to tears."My eyes were filled with tears as I watched my church and my school return to the beautiful picture engraved in my memory," said Georgena Habbaba, who used to attend the parish and study at the parish school with her brothers. Her own children studied there, too, before the family had to flee Mosul amid worsening violence in 2007. (Note: Habbaba also writes for ACI Mena, CNA's Arabic-language news partner.)"I remembered the wonderful days I spent studying at this school and praying in this church. Very close to my family's house," she t...
A bishop and a priest exchange the sign of peace during Mass. / Credit: Father Lawrence Lew, OP; photo courtesy of Martin Beek via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 18, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).The director of the Chair of Theology of the Consecrated Life at San Dámaso Ecclesiastical University in Spain, Sister Carolina Blázquez Casado, OSA, explained that the rite of peace at Mass "is not a greeting or friendly gesture."The sister explained the meaning of the rite in a video posted by the university, which is under the Archdiocese of Madrid.The sign of peace, which takes place between the recitation of the Lord's Prayer and the Fraction (breaking) of the Host, "is a prior step to be able to approach Communion with the body of Christ in a dignified manner," the Augustinian sister explained.The sign of peace is exchanged in recollection of the words of Jesus recorded in Matthew 5:23-24, namely: "Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your ...
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