Vatican City, March 24, 2022 / 11:30 a.m. (CNA).

A Vatican cardinal has urged Catholics to give with “new vigor” to this year’s Good Friday collection for Christians in the Holy Land.

Cardinal Leonardo Sandri appealed in a letter published on March 24, following a drop in donations in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“For two consecutive years, Christians in the Holy Land celebrated Easter and Christmas in a kind of isolation, without the warmth and solidarity of pilgrims visiting the Holy Places and local communities,” said the prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches wrote.

“Families have suffered beyond measure, more from lack of work than from the immediate effects of the pandemic itself.”

Sandri said even a small offering would be like “The widow’s mite” which helps “our brothers and sisters to continue to live, to hope and to offer a living witness to the Word made flesh in the places and in the streets which have seen his presence”.

This year Good Friday collection will be taken worldwide on April 15. American Catholics can donate to online collection as well as in churches.

The Holy See has overseen the annual Holy Land collection since 1974, when St. Paul VI established Good Friday as the day on which it should be taken up by parishes and bishops around the world.

The collection is traditionally divided, with 65% going to the Franciscans Custody of the Holy Landwho maintained the holy places of Christianity in the region for more than 800 years.

The remaining 35% is donated to the Congregation for the Oriental Churches to support seminarians and priests, as well as educational and cultural activities.

The territories benefiting from the collection, called the Pro Terra Sancta Collectioninclude Jerusalem, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Turkey, Iran and Iraq.

Along with the letter, the Vatican released a detailed breakdown of how proceeds from the annual collection helped Christians in the Holy Land in 2021.

The Congregation for the Oriental Churches received $6 million from the Holy Land collection in 2021, about $3.7 million less than in the 2020 collection.

The funds have helped educational institutions like the Pontifical Oriental Institute and Bethlehem Universitywhich has nearly 3,300 students, as well as schools in Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Approximately $2.4 million has been allocated for extraordinary assistance to countries such as Syria, Ethiopia, Egypt and Lebanon.

“The Middle East continues to live in instability and tension. There are people who have no food, others who lack medical care, children and young people without school, then orphans, wounded and war widows,” the report says.

“The Congregation pays particular attention to the needs of these people and works to rebuild social structures through the local Eastern and Latin dioceses, as well as by soliciting the Catholic agencies involved in the aforementioned countries.”

“Ensuring the means necessary for a dignified life for those returning to Iraq and Syria and for refugees in neighboring countries, such as Lebanon and Jordan, requires the collaboration of all people of good will.

In a report on its activities in 2021, the Custody of the Holy Land noted the pressure on its finances.

It said: “Since the end of February 2020, we find ourselves without pilgrims, which means serious economic difficulties for the local Christian communities, for the Christian families, and also for the Custody.”

“In the meantime, we are trying to continue the mission entrusted to us, knowing that the Divine Providence which wanted our presence here will continue to take care of us.”

Cardinal Sandri noted that Pope Francis invited Catholics to live in greater solidarity with their brothers and sisters in the Middle East during his visit to iraq Last year.

“Looking therefore at Christ who touched our human reality to its depths, letting ourselves be inspired by the gestures of closeness made by Pope Francis in his apostolic journeys and accepting his invitation to live solidarity with our brothers and sisters of Holy Land, give new vigor to the practice of the Collection for the Holy Land,” said the 78-year-old Argentinian cardinal.

“In Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth and many other shrines and monasteries, prayer is offered for the Church everywhere, and we are invited to remember with the heart and with a small gift from all who pronounce our name before the Lord. , giving thanks for our generosity,” he said.