On Tuesday April 5, 2022, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, visited the projects of the Patriarchate in Damascus.

His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II was accompanied by their Eminences the Archbishops who are participating in the spiritual retreat.

The program of the Holy Week celebrations in Jerusalem, issued by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

The Vatican releases the meditations for the Good Friday Way of the Cross at Rome’s Colosseum, with 15 families offering their perspectives on the pain life can bring and the horrors of war.

By Devin Watkins

Complaints, uncertainties, needs, wounds, but also courage, forgiveness, prayers, and hope.

These themes related to the life of every family across the globe form the basis of the meditations written for the Via Crucis which His Holiness Pope Francis presides over on Good Friday at the Colosseum in Rome.

Dearest Brothers and Sisters,

After a long journey we have finally entered Jerusalem, and here today our Church, the Church of Jerusalem, is gathered inside the Holy City. We come from many parts of the Holy Land: from Palestine, from Israel, we also have representatives from Jordan and Cyprus. After the pandemic, we also have with us many pilgrims from different parts of the world, and we greet their return with joy: Thank you for remembering us and returning. We have been waiting and praying for your return.

Presiding over the liturgy of Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, His Holiness Pope Francis encourages us to journey toward Easter with God's forgiveness, and recalls that as Christ gazes upon "our violent and tormented world," Jesus never tires of repeating: "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."

St. Gregory the Illuminator is the Patron Saint of the Armenian Church. He is referred to as Illuminator for spreading the light of Jesus Christ and formally establishing the Armenian Church. St. Gregory underwent passion and was prisoned in a pit (Khor Virab) for more than a decade. The Armenian Church commemorates the feast of St. Gregory the Illuminator’s descent into the pit on the Sunday of the Advent. On this feast, the Holy See of Cilicia also marks the Catholicosate’s Pilgrimage Day.

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers.” (Psalm 122:6–7)

Over the past two weeks, indiscriminate acts of violence have taken place in various parts of our Holy Land. These have in turn led to violent confrontations throughout the region. More than a dozen people have lost their lives as a result of these attacks and ensuing conflicts. Others have suffered serious injury.

In the early hours of Saturday, April 2nd, 2022, on the feast of the St. Gregory the Illuminator’s descent into the pit (Khor Virab) and the eve of the Antelias Pilgrimage Day, pilgrims and Armenian Theological Seminary students marched from St. Mary Monastery in Bikfaya to St. Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral in Antelias, Lebanon, where they participated in the Divine Liturgy conducted at the Cathedral.

Following the service, sacred relics, kept at the Cilicia Museum, were taken out by His Holiness Catholicos of Cilicia Aram I and placed in a reliquary coffer to be revealed to the faithful on Sunday during the Divine Liturgy.

On the start of the Holy month, His Beatitude Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and the bishops, priests and faithful of the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem, Amman, and Nazareth, congratulate Muslims all over the world and wish them an acceptable fasting, during which they may obtain forgiveness, grace, and acquire self-discipline and the exercise of virtue.

On April 4, 2022, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, inaugurated a spiritual retreat entitled “for them, I sanctify myself”, for the Archbishops of the Archdioceses in Syria, at Mor Aphrem Monastery in Maarat Saydnaya.

The technique of downplaying His Holiness Pope Francis' words by appealing to circumstances.

By Andrea Tornielli

"The Pope speaks against rearmament, but... The Pope does what the Pope should, but... The Pope can only say what he says, but..."

There is always a "but" that in many embarrassing comments accompanies the unequivocal "no to war" declared by Pope Francis, in order to contextualize and downplay the Pope's statements.

His Holiness Pope Francis consecrates all humanity—especially Russia and Ukraine—to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and says the act expresses our complete trust in the Virgin Mary in the midst of the “cruel and senseless war” in Ukraine.

By Devin Watkins

His Holiness Pope Francis presided over the annual “24 Hours for the Lord” Lenten penitential service in St. Peter’s Basilica on Friday evening, as the Church marked the feast of the Annunciation.

Dearest Brothers and Sisters,

May the Lord grant you peace!

We gather here in great numbers this year, once again at the feet of the Virgin of Nazareth, in her house and in her city. We turn to her once again in prayer as we listen to the Word. Through the Word we ask her, the mother of Jesus, to enlighten us to live in the right spirit in these times, which are once again full of violence and pain.

The Migrants & Refugees Section of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development publishes its Pastoral Orientations on Intercultural Migrant Ministry. The document, with a preface by His Holiness Pope Francis, offers guidelines to promote a culture of encounter.

By Linda Bordoni

In his preface, His Holiness Pope Francis reiterates his call to all men and women of goodwill to commit to the pursuit of universal fraternity because “we are all in the same boat.”

On March 25, 2022, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, celebrated the Holy Qurobo for the Feast of the Annunciation at St. Severius Church in the Patriarchal Residence in Atchaneh - Lebanon.

On March 23, 2022, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, received the priest of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Lebanon Rev. Fr. Andrawos Al-Antouny, at the Patriarchal Residence in Atchaneh – Lebanon.

His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, delivered his weekly sermon on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, from the Church of St. Virgin Mary and St. Anba Bishoy at the St. Mark Cathedral in Abbassia, Egypt, during which several Church fathers attended.

The sermon was also broadcast across several Christian satellite channels and by Internet on the Church’s Media Center Internet channel, COC, on the World Wide Web.

On March 18, 2022, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, received His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, Chaldean Patriarch in Iraq and the World, at the Patriarchate Headquarters in Damascus.

His Beatitude was accompanied by his Excellency Mor Baselius Yeldho, Patriarchal Assistant and priests of the Chaldean Church in Syria.

On Sunday 9/20 March 2022, on the commemoration of the Holy Forty Martyrs of the lake of Sebastia in Pontus during the reign of Licinius in AD 320, the Name Day of His Beatitude Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III was celebrated, as one of these Holy Martyrs was named Theophilos.

This feast was celebrated as a ‘Parresia’. On Saturday afternoon the Great Vespers was observed at the Catholicon of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, presided by His Beatitude Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III.

On March 13, 2022, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, received a delegation from the Scouts leaders of the Patriarchal troop in Damascus, at the Patriarchate in Bab Touma in Damascus.

The meeting was attended by their Eminences Archbishops: Mor Anthimos Jack Yacoub, Patriarchal Vicar for Youth Affairs and Christian Education, and Mor Joseph Bali, Patriarchal Secretary and Media Office Director.