VATICAN, Nov 28, 01 (CWNews.com) - The leaders of Catholic communities in the Holy Land will gather at the Vatican on December 13 to discuss the topic "the future of Christians in the Holy Land," a topic proposed by Pope John Paul II himself.
The meeting will take place the day before a day of fasting for peace called for by the Holy Father and a little more than one month before the planned gathering of the world's religious leaders in Assisi, said Joaquin Navarro-Valls, spokesman for the Holy See, on Wednesday.
"The meeting, of a purely pastoral nature, was desired by the Holy Father himself, who, considering the delicate situation in the Holy Land, wishes to confirm, once again, his spiritual closeness to those populations and to share the drama of their daily existence, too often tested by acts of violence and discrimination," said Navarro-Valls.
"The meeting," he continued, "which will bring together the heads of the Catholic communities of the region and the presidents of various episcopal conferences, will offer the possibility of testifying to the solicitude of the entire Church for those Christians, in particular for the Catholic community, as well as to express the common commitment to the continuity of its millenarian presence in that region."
Catholic World News Service - Daily News Briefs
28. november 2001