Pope designates Holy Thursday collection for Syrian refugees

March 28, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI has announced that money collected during the Holy Thursday Mass in the basilica of St. John Lateran will be used to support Syrian refugees.

The Pope’s decision is “a very generous gesture, said Maronite Catholic Archbishop Samir Nassar of Damascus, who added that Christians in Syria are enduring “immense suffering” because of the struggle between the government and rebel troops and because of an international embargo. “It is a gesture of closeness and solidarity that has a strong meaning for us in this Lenten time and of great suffering.”

There are an estimated 20,000 refugees from Syria now staying in shelters in Lebanon, with hundreds more arriving daily.

 

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Further information:

• Pope’s Holy Thursday Mass collection to refugees: from Cor Unum to Caritas Syria (Fides)