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More than 50 years of joy

Love and sharing at the Effetà Institute of Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM – Imagined in 1964, and inaugurated in 1971, the Effetà Paul VI Institute officially celebrated, on June 7th, 2022, and in the presence of Mgr Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, its golden jubilee.

The pandemic will have delayed it by one year. Yesterday, the Effetà Paul VI Institute, located in the city of Bethlehem, officially marked its fifty-year anniversary with a Mass presided by Patriarch Pizzaballa, followed by a reception during which the journey of the Institute was briefly retraced.

The Effetà Paul VI Institute came to light in 1964, when Pope Paul VI – called “the Pope with a big heart” by Greek Patriarch Athenagoras I – visited the Holy Land. During his pilgrimage, noticing the presence of many deaf-mute children in Palestine who were not receiving the proper aid required, he decided to have an institution established especially for them.

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Communication, Under the Spotlight Communication & PR Department Communication Communication, Under the Spotlight Communication & PR Department Communication

Priestly ordinations in Domus Galilaeae

KORAZIM - In Domus Galilaelae, where seminarians from all over the world are trained to serve the Church, three young men were ordained priests by His Beatitude Mgr Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, on Saturday, June 11th. A cause of great rejoicing for the Mother Church, especially for the parishes of Madaba, Amman and Zarqa North, to which the three ordained were assigned.

The celebration, which was in Italian but translated simultaneously in several languages (English, Arabic and Spanish), was concelebrated by Mgr Rafic Nahra, Patriarchal Vicar for Israel, Mgr Jean-Pierre Cattenoz, archbishop emeritus of Avignon, and Fr. Francesco Voltaggio, rector of the Redemptoris Mater seminary of Domus Galilaelae. It was also attended not only by the ordained's families and friends (who came from Colombia and California, Qatar, Italy and Eilat), but also by many Christian communities of Galilee, as well as the seminarians of the Patriarchal Seminary of Beit Jala and their rector, Fr. Bernard Poggi.

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Communication, Under the Spotlight Communication & PR Department Communication Communication, Under the Spotlight Communication & PR Department Communication

A Special Publication Marking the 25th Anniversary of the Enthronement of His Holiness Catholicos Aram I is Launched

We are pleased to announce the launching of the special publication dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the election and consecration of His Holiness Aram I as Catholicos of the Armenian Church, Holy See of Cilicia.

52 contributors from various fields: religious, ecumenical, academic, political, church administration, community leadership, among others, pay tribute to the service and mission of His Holiness on his silver jubilee by recalling notable moments and great achievements of his pontificate.

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Communication, Under the Spotlight Communication & PR Department Communication Communication, Under the Spotlight Communication & PR Department Communication

His Holiness Pope Francis: The Church is a ‘caravan of brothers’ on a journey

His Holiness Pope Francis greets a Pan-Orthodox delegation of priests and monks of the Oriental Autocephalous Churches on Friday, reflecting on the Solemnity of Pentecost and “the full unity to which we aspire.”

By Vatican News staff reporter

At the heart of His Holiness Pope Francis’ address to young priests and monks from Oriental Orthodox Churches from different traditions was that of unity.

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Lebanon: Capuchin parents, Malaki and Saleh beatified in a festive Holy Mass

A solemn ceremonial mass was held in the outer courtyard of the Monastery of the Cross – Jal el-Dib – Qenaya, during which the canonization of the honorable martyrs parents Leonard Owais Malaki and Touma Saleh al-Kabushites from the town of Baabdat was announced, in the presence of the President of the Republic represented by the Minister of Tourism in the caretaker government Walid Nassar, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nabih Berri, represented by Representative Hagop Pakradounian, and Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, represented by Caretaker Minister of Youth and Sports George Kallas.

Retired Major General George Shreim, representing Caretaker Minister of Defence Maurice Selim, Army Commander General Joseph Aoun, MP Elias Hankash representing the head of the Lebanese Kataeb Party MP Sami Gemayel, MP Razi Al-Hajj, Major Rana Asfour representing the Director General of Public Security Major General Abbas Ibrahim also attended. Former MP Ghassan Moukheiber, political, official, partisan and spiritual figures and a crowd of believers from different Lebanese regions.

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Messages From His Holiness Pope Francis and His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II to the Participants in the Ecumenical Pentecost Vigil Organized by CHARIS International

Pope Francis sends a video message to the global, online ecumenical Pentecost Vigil organized by CHARIS, and reassures Christians that the Holy Spirit can achieve peace and restore love through our daily actions, even in a world wounded by war and hatred.

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

Pope Francis on Saturday, the eve of Pentecost, sent a message for the ecumenical Pentecost Vigil organized by the Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service (CHARIS), through the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

The Charis-organized 2022 Vigil was transmitted online first from Burkina Faso, then Australia, and lastly in Lebanon. The Pope’s video message was broadcast during the vigil.


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Communication, Under the Spotlight Communication & PR Department Communication Communication, Under the Spotlight Communication & PR Department Communication

Pentecost 2022: Waiting for the Holy Spirit together

When the day for Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.” - Acts 2:1

JERUSALEM – This year, at the initiative of Christian Movements and New Communities, the faithful of the Holy Land gathered in small groups between the evening of the Ascension and the Vigil of the Pentecost, to truly live in faith the experience of Mary and the Apostles.

The Pentecost, sometimes called “Whitsun” or “Whitsunday”, marks the day the Apostles received the Holy Spirit as a gift, in the form of “tongues of fire” “sitting upon each of them”. It coincides with the Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot, the Jewish holiday commemorating the day the Torah was revealed to Moses and the people of Israel – which the Apostles were celebrating when the Holy Spirit descended upon them. For the Latin Church, it is part of the solemnities, meaning the most important feasts of the Liturgical calendar. Solemnities also include, for example, the Paschal Triduum, the Nativity, the Epiphany or the Ascension.

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Communication, Under the Spotlight Communication & PR Department Communication Communication, Under the Spotlight Communication & PR Department Communication

“From the First Minute, You Contribute to the Kingdom of God”: meeting for the Christian Youth in Galilee

Under the patronage of the Patriarchal Vicar for Israel, Mgr Rafic Nahra, a meeting for the Latin Youth in Galilee was held under the title “From the First Minute, You Contribute to the Kingdom of God”, under the guidance of the spiritual guide of the youth, Father Ramez Twal.

The meeting was also attended by Father Elie Karzam, parish priest of Shafa’mer; Father Makarios Jeries, the youth guide of the Akko diocese; Father Ayman Bathish from the Franciscan Order; Father Cyprian from the Carmelite Order. Several Rosary Sisters also came; Sister Carmela Bou Khuza'a, Sister Ghada Nehme, Sister Lauren Imad and Sister Alfonsina Al Daoud, as well as postulants Batoul Fakhoury, Najlin Al-Banna and Teresa Daniel. Two sisters from the Servants of the Gospel of God's Mercy, Sisters Anna and Monica, also attended.

As for the participants, they included about sixty young men and women, all coming from different towns in Galilee; Shafa’mer, Rineh, Jesh, Haifa, Jaffa, Nazareth, Ramah, Kafr Kanna, Ibilin, Ma'aliya, and so on.

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