Tag: Christianity

The Gospel contains a great message of hope, “because it tells us that wherever we are lost and however we are lost, God always comes looking for us!” said the text for Pope Francis’ weekly general audience.

“We are able to hope because we know that the Father is waiting for us,” he wrote in the text for his audience April 16. “He sees us from afar and he always leaves the door open.”

While Pope Francis was not holding his general audiences since he was still recovering from double pneumonia and multiple infections, the Vatican has been publishing the texts prepared for the event each Wednesday.

During the Holy Year 2025, the pope’s audiences have focused on “Jesus Christ our hope.” After his series looking at Gospel stories of Jesus’ encounters with different people and how meeting him changed their lives, the April 16 text began a new series looking at some parables and how they encourage the faithful to consider, “Where am I in this story?”

The first installment focused on St. Luke’s account of Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son, which portrays “the heart of the Gospel of Jesus, namely God’s mercy,” the pope wrote.

Jesus tells this parable and the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin to “the Pharisees and the scribes, who lamented that he ate with sinners,” Pope Francis wrote. “This is why it could be said that it is a parable addressed to those who are lost, but do not know it, and judge others.”

“The Gospel is intended to give us a message of hope” because it says whenever a child of God is lost, God is seeking or waiting for him or her, he wrote.

“Love is always a commitment, there is always something that we must lose in order to go toward the other,” the pope’s text said.

The younger son in the parable thinks only of himself, which can be seen in some people who “are unable to maintain a relationship because they are selfish,” he wrote. Instead of “finding” themselves by running off, they lose themselves “because only when we live for someone do we truly live.”

“This younger son, like all of us, hungers for affection; he wants to be loved. But love is a precious gift; it must be treated with care. Instead, he squanders it, he disregards it, he does not respect himself” and makes himself vulnerable to a slavelike relationship for affection, he wrote.

“Only those who truly love us can free us from this false view of love,” he wrote.

The pope praised Rembrandt’s 17th-century painting, “The Return of the Prodigal Son,” for how the painter depicted the young man with a shorn head, “like that of a penitent,” but also like a child, “because this son is being born again. And then the father’s hands: one male and the other female, to describe the strength and tenderness in the embrace of forgiveness.”

However, the pope wrote, Jesus tells this parable to those whom the eldest son represents — the one who always stayed at home with his father, yet was distant from him in his heart.

“This son may have wanted to leave, too, but out of fear or duty, he stayed there in that relationship,” the pope wrote. “Paradoxically, it is precisely the eldest son who in the end risks being left out because he does not share his father’s joy.”

“The father goes toward him, too. He does not reproach him or call him to duty. He wants only that he feels his love. He invites him to enter and to leave the door open,” the pope wrote.

Pope Francis asked the faithful to consider “where we are in this wonderful tale and let us ask God the Father for the grace that we too can find our way back home.”

Kiev, April 16, 2025

Photo: ​ctrana.media     

Ukrainian authorities have targeted another representative of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church—one of the highest-ranking hierarchs.

Yesterday, April 15, employees of the Security Service of Ukraine conducted a search on the premises of the Kiev Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The UOC chancellor, His Eminence Metropolitan Antony of Borispol, spoke about this incident on his YouTube channel.

“The search was carried out in the chancellor’s office, the reception area, as well as in the office of the Kiev Metropolia, with three computers seized as a result. It should be noted that the search was conducted properly,” said Metropolitan Antony.

The bishop noted that Holy Week is now underway, and the Church of Christ, including all its children, must follow the path of the Savior.

“The path to the Resurrection lies through Golgotha. Therefore, first of all, dear brothers and sisters, I am grateful to all of you for your prayers. I wish that we might pass through this period of Holy Week with spiritual benefit, so that we may joyfully celebrate the Bright Resurrection of Christ. God bless you all,” said Met. Antony.

According to the Ukrainian outlet Strana, the case concerns “the obstruction of the activities of religious communities, in particular, their change of subordination,” that is, the chancellor works to prevent churches from being illegally stole from the Orthodox Church.

This is not the first that the authorities have set their sights on Met. Antony. In May 2023, His Eminence was detained at a checkpoint in the Kiev Province.

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U.S.A., April 16, 2025

Holy Cross Orthodox Church in Kernersville, North Carolina. Photo: Facebook     

Holy Orthodoxy has seen a surge in the number of converts in America in recent years. And with the end of Lent and the arrival of Holy Week, traditional times for receiving catechumens into the Church, several mass Baptisms and Chrismations have been reported.

Several churches celebrated Baptisms and Chrismations on Lazarus Saturday, allowing the newly illumined to fully participate in Holy Week as Orthodox Christians.

At Holy Cross Orthodox Church in Kernersville, North Carolina (Orthodox Church in America), 25 catechumens were brought into the Church, reports rector Fr. Christopher Foley.

This parish community has grown steadily over the years and recently moved into and Orthodox church consecrated in North Carolina’s Triad RegionThe consecration marks the culmination of a journey that began in 2005 when a small group of families first established the mission to serve the Piedmont Triad area with English-language Orthodox services.

“>consecrated its own church building.

St. Seraphim Cathedral in Santa Rosa, California. Photo: Facebook     

Another 25 were baptized the same day at St. Seraphim of Sarov Cathedral in Santa Rosa, California (Orthodox Church in America), where Fr. Lawrence Margitich serves as rector.

Holy Mother of God Church in Georgetown, Texas. Photo: Facebook     

At the Holy Mother of God Orthodox Church in Georgetown, Texas (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia), 9 people were baptized by Fr. Moses McPherson.

The parish has another roughly 65 catechumens who are still preparing to be baptized. The community recently purchased a $2 million mansion and property to build a new church and Orthodox center north of Austin. Texas parish purchases mansion and property to develop Orthodox center—donate to the cause (+VIDEO)Like many other churches in America, the Holy Mother of God Orthodox Church, currently in Georgetown, Texas, has experienced significant growth in recent years and outgrown its current building, which it moved into just three and a half years ago.

“>See here to learn more and contribute to the cause.

OrthoChristian recently reported on mass reception services at Greek churches in Mass Baptism at Greek church in Australia, where Orthodoxy is quickly growingAccording to 2016-2021 census data, Orthodoxy is the fasting growing denomination, with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia coming in as the fastest growing among the Orthodox jurisdictions.

“>Australia and England: Nearly 200 newly illumined at Greek church in HatfieldA truly glorious event took place on Lazarus Saturday, April 12, at Twelve Apostles Greek Orthodox Church in Hatfield, Hertfordshire County, England.”>England.

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Lamia, Fthiotida, Greece, April 16, 2025

Photo: imfth.gr     

One metropolis within the Orthodox Church of Greece has distributed 32,000 ready meals, care packages, and Pascha gifts to help the less fortunate.

“The Holy Metropolis of Fthiotida and Metropolitan Symeon of Fthiotida wanted, at the beginning of Holy Week, beyond the spiritual call of the holy services, fasting, and prayer, to also extend a call of love and awareness, so that we don’t forget, amid the festive atmosphere, the sacred persons of our brothers and sisters in need, as love and brotherhood towards them is a prerequisite for experiencing the meanings of spiritual life,” the diocese reports.

The diocesan charitable fund teamed up with parish charitable funds and other philanthropic organizations to hold numerous charitable events.

Initially, food supplies and other essential items were distributed to dozens of single-parent families with minor children as part of the relevant SYN-enosis program, implemented in the city of Lamia.

Later, the Together Where There’s Need initiative was carried out, distributing 32,000 ready meals to 500 mostly solitary individuals across the entire regional unit of Fthiotida, in cooperation with local parishes.

Within this framework, a special distribution of holiday packages and financial aid was also provided to the beneficiaries of the Love Center of the Parish Charitable Fund of the Holy Metropolitan Cathedral Church of the Annunciation of the Theotokos in Lamia.

Met. Symeon distributed Pascha candles and conveyed holiday wishes to students, children, and vocational trainees across various educational institutions in Lamia. He will also visit the Metropolis’ social and welfare structures and the homes of brothers and sisters in difficult circumstances on Holy Thursday, from the morning after the Liturgy of St. Basil until late afternoon before the Matins with the 12 Gospel readings.

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The penitential season of Lent is almost finished, and Easter beckons eagerly, promising a welcome release from our privations and inviting us to bask in the golden glow of the Resurrection.

Is it any wonder that we are tempted to hurry past Golgotha, our eyes fixed firmly on the ground? Who wants to look up at the wretched derelict who hangs there, naked and blood-soaked, limbs trembling and eyes bulging, as he breathes his agonized last? We run the risk of meeting his sorrowful gaze, which even during his extremity and his despair is fixed hopefully on my face, and yours, as we go by. He cannot call our names, for he has spent his last breath offering the inexhaustible love of his mother to John, and to all men in turn. We don’t dare look. We are afraid our hearts will break.

We rush past the cross, hurried on by modern culture, which rejects the cross as an affront to our therapeutic mentality in which the aim of each day is maximizing our feelings of contentment. There is no contentment on the cross — it is a place of ultimate discomfort, of painful sacrifice and self-emptying abandonment. The cross is the negation of the ego and the ego’s prerequisites as the center of each person’s universe. It stands high there, on Calvary, and on every church spire, a sharp rebuke to the selfishness and self-regard that oils the wheels of the engines of greed, discord and mutual abasement, engines whose destination is no other place than hell.

The cross is also the place of obedience, a virtue that is more deeply unpopular today than ever. We are conditioned to think of obedience as a lack of autonomy, the surrendering of our liberty into the hands of another.  Nothing could be further from the truth. Obedience is the fullest expression of freedom, in which, by aligning our wills to that of God’s, we are delivered from the strangling chains of egotism and conceit. 

Stop and look up at the obedient servant, do not rush past. Look at him and remember we are meant to be ipse Christus — Christ himself. Consider that obedience was the path that Christ chose for his glorious act of redemption. Crying out in agony in the garden, as he allowed all the sins of mankind to invade and permeate him in all their stench and rankness, he asked God to take away that awful cup. And yet: “Not my will but your will be done.” To see Jesus there, obedient to the bitter end, is a reproach to you and me, who fail to see our small acts of obedience for what they really are — sanctifying and heroic — and rebel instead. 

Linger there a little longer, before going on to Easter. We stand to lose too much if we make haste to leave that painful scene. We just might fail to grasp the enormity of our personal sins, those that Christ is atoning and expiating for us on that awful cross. He has climbed up there, leaden with despair, to take my place, and your place. 

Yes, it is too awful to think of the weight of my offenses, and yours, added on to the enormous burden of sin and death that is crushing him to dust. But if we don’t dwell on this on our way to Easter, we will not be able to grasp the vastness of God’s mercy, and our joy won’t be complete when at last the stone is rolled back and we find the grave empty. 

For when we stoop and gaze into the cool darkness, it is our experience of God’s ineffable love, unquenched even by death, that will transform us. We will learn tenderness, and mercy from him, and cry out with St. John: “We know that we have passed from death to life because we have loved one another” (1 John 3:14). Yes, even sinners like you and me will learn to love God’s lovely will, forgive the worst injustices, and endure suffering with peace.

So stop a moment or two, at the foot of Golgotha, and let your gaze rest on Christ, sweating and heaving on the cross. For the dear, green rebirth of spring means nothing if not preceded by the long leaden sleep of winter. And the triumph of the Resurrection means nothing without the agony of the crucifix and those three long days in which God lay cold and dead.

Wayne, West Virginia, April 16, 2025

Photo: eadiocese.org The brotherhood of Holy Cross Monastery (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia) in Wayne, West Virginia, elected a new abbot on Palm Sunday.

This decision was made in light of the Prayers requested for Abbot Seraphim of Holy Cross Monastery in West VirginiaThe brotherhood of Holy Cross Monastery in Wayne, West Virginia (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia) is requesting prayers for its beloved abbot Archimandrite Seraphim.

“>medical condition of the previous abbot, Archimandrite Seraphim, whom doctors believe has an aggressive brain tumor, the monastery reports.

On Sunday, the whole brotherhood gathered in church for a moleben, after which the senior fathers prayerfully elected Igumen Gabriel as their next abbot. This choice must be ratified by the ROCOR Holy Synod.

The next day, His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas, First Hierarch of ROCOR, arrived to tonsure the ailing Fr. Seraphim into the Great Schema, as it has been his lifelong desire to end his life in the fullness of the monastic life.

Photo: holycross.org     

Thus, following the evening Bridegroom Matins service, Fr. Seraphim was tonsured in his cell with the new name Schema-Archimandrite Panteleimon.

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Istanbul, April 16, 2025

Photo: imgix.net     

Turkey has launched an ambitious restoration project focused on the dome of the 1,486-year-old Hagia Sophia, marking one of the most significant repair efforts in the monument’s long history, experts announced on Monday.

The comprehensive project will reinforce the main dome and half domes of the historic structure, replace worn lead coverings, and upgrade the steel framework to protect the building from potential earthquake damage in a country traversed by numerous fault lines, Reuters reports.

“It is truly a structure full of surprises because sometimes things develop in a way we do not expect. That is, you design and plan it, but when you open it, things may develop differently,” said Asnu Bilban Yalcin, a Byzantine art historian, speaking outside the Hagia Sophia.

The restoration represents “the most significant intervention in over 150 years and in the totality of the structure’s long history,” according to Dr. Mehmet Selim Okten, a construction engineer and member of the scientific council overseeing the renovations.

As part of the process, a tower crane has been installed on the eastern façade to transport materials and expedite the work. The dome will be covered with a protective frame system during the repairs, allowing experts to safely examine the building’s historical layers.

“We have been carrying out intensive restoration efforts on Hagia Sophia and its surrounding structures for three years,” Okten explained. “At the end of these three years, we have focused on the seismic safety of Hagia Sophia, the minarets, the main dome and the main arches, especially due to the expected Istanbul earthquake.”

The renewed focus on earthquake protection comes after a devastating 7.8 magnitude quake struck southern Turkey in 2023, killing more than 53,000 people. While Istanbul was spared, experts remain concerned about the city’s vulnerability due to its proximity to fault lines.

Ahmet Gulec, a cultural property conservation and repair expert, noted that the real structural issues will become more apparent once the existing lead cover is removed. The restoration will focus on weak structural points identified during earthquake simulations.

Despite the extensive nature of the work, Hagia Sophia will remain open to worshippers and visitors throughout the restoration process, though experts acknowledge this will make the repairs more challenging.

Built by Byzantine Emperor Justinian in 537, Hagia Sophia served as the world’s largest cathedral for 900 years until its capture by Ottoman Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror in 1453. It was then used as a mosque for nearly 500 years before being converted into a museum by Turkey’s secular republic in 1934. First Islamic prayers in Hagia Sophia have begun, to last 24 hoursThe first Islamic prayers have already begun in the Hagia Sophai Cathedral in Istanbul, newly reconverted into a mosque by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

“>In 2020, President Tayyip Erdogan returned the structure to its status as a mosque.

“For this unique cultural heritage, we plan to use modern, lightweight materials and keep the building open to the public,” Okten said, adding that the renovation process would be “monitored transparently.”

The experts did not specify a completion date for the project, citing potential delays due to weather conditions and unforeseen additional work that may be required once restoration begins in earnest.

Visitors to the site have expressed support for the preservation efforts. “Hagia Sophia is amazing, it’s one of the world’s most important monuments,” said Cambridge University lecturer Rupert Wegerif. “It seems really important that they are going to strengthen it in case of earthquakes and preserve it.”

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Archbishop José H. Gomez invited Los Angeles priests to reflect on the “nobility of our priestly calling” as they renewed their ordination vows at the 2025 Chrism Mass on April 14.

“We are called to be men whose hearts are shaped by our friendship with Jesus and by the ministry that he has entrusted to us, by the sacred mysteries that we celebrate every day at the altar, and by our care and compassion for the people we serve,” Archbishop Gomez said in his homily at the Mass, celebrated annually during Holy Week where oils used for sacraments are blessed and distributed to parishes.

The archbishop also called on the priests to help Catholics “grow in their trust and confidence in God’s plan for their lives” in their ministry.

“With Jesus, we preach the word of hope, and at the altar we make that hope real. With Jesus, we walk with our people, guiding them along the pathway of hope.”

Some 400 priests and nearly 4,000 faithful filled the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on the Monday evening for the special Chrism Mass, where the oils to be used throughout the upcoming year for anointing of the sick, baptisms, confirmations, ordinations, and more were blessed by Archbishop Gomez.

In speaking about the oils and what they represent, Archbishop Gomez said that the anointing is another example of God’s love for us.

“By this anointing, each of us has received the Spirit and been made a child of God and an heir of Jesus and the hope of his resurrection — the hope of eternal life, the hope of the kingdom that he promises to those who love him,” Archbishop Gomez said.

“And this hope means that whatever happens in our lives, whatever sufferings we’re asked to endure, whatever dark valleys we’re called to walk, we can be certain that Jesus is walking with us, and that he will always give us the strength we need.”

When it came time for the blessing, the oil for each sacrament was brought first in a large jar, followed by handfuls of young people who paraded in, carrying trays of smaller jars of oils to be blessed, and placed them on rows of tables set up on the altar.

At each table, Archbishop Gomez ritualistically removed his miter and relinquished his crozier before blessing the oils, first the ones for anointing of the sick, then oil for catechumens, and finally the consecration of the Chrism.

At the beginning of the Mass, Archbishop Gomez recognized priests celebrating jubilarian anniversaries of 50 years in the priesthood. Father Francis Ty Bui, Father Vito DiMarzio, and Father Ramon Valera stood for applause at the cathedral. Although not in attendance, Father Brian Delaney, Father Guillermo Garcia, Father Gilberto Martinez Bedolla, Father Livio Stella, and Father Aldo Vendramin were also recognized.

Emeritus archbishop Cardinal Roger Mahony, who is celebrating 50 years as a bishop, was also recognized during the Mass.

“Congratulations to the jubilarians on your anniversary,” Archbishop Gomez said. “We pray for you in a special way this evening. Thank you for all your ministry during these 50 years.”

At the end of the Mass while praying for priestly vocations, Archbishop Gomez noted several markers of good news in the archdiocese: More than 5,000 were going to be welcomed into the Church on Easter, while eight transitional deacons were about to enter the priesthood, and 18 permanent deacons were soon to be ordained.

“Let’s keep bringing the good news of the life and teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ to the people in our families and in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles,” Archbishop Gomez said.

A new Vatican-commissioned sculpture by Canadian artist Timothy P. Schmalz titled “Be Welcoming” was installed in St. Peter’s Square on Tuesday in the hopes of inspiring people to open their hearts to the poor.

Schmalz’s bronze statue — located near the Showers for the Poor and the Mother of Mercy Clinic in the colonnade of St. Peter’s Square — depicts a man seated on a bench “who appears to be a homeless person” carrying only two possessions: a full backpack on his shoulder and a stick in one hand.

The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Service of Charity said on Tuesday: “This stranger turns into an angel when you look at the other side of the sculpture: the roughness of his clothes becomes smooth, the bag he carries turns into wings and the hood turns into hair.”

Known for creating artworks that interact with its viewers, Schmalz’s Be Welcoming statue “invites you to sit next to him,” to contemplate the word of God and inspire people to carry out works of charity.

Be Welcoming — the Canadian sculptor’s latest installation in St. Peter’s Square — is another “visual interpretation of a verse from the Letter to the Hebrews: ‘Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some have unknowingly entertained angels’ (Heb 13:2),” the Vatican statement said.

The same Scripture verse also inspired Schmalz’s Angels Unawares sculpture — also located within St. Peter’s Square — which depicts 140 migrants of different ethnicities and nationalities standing on a boat.

On Sept. 29, 2019, Pope Francis blessed that statue on the occasion of the Church’s 105th World Day of Migrants and Refugees.

“We are all invited to open our hearts because only then will we have the opportunity to see others as they really are, people with their humanity,” the Vatican statement read. “Touching a poor person, assisting a poor person, is a sacrament in the Church.”

“We give ‘a concrete face to the Gospel of love,’” the statement continued, quoting Pope Francis. “‘By offering them shelter, a meal, a smile, holding out our hands without fear of dirtying them’ we restore ‘dignity,’ and this touches ‘the heart of our often indifferent world.’”

Be Welcoming is the third Schmalz installation located in the vicinity of St. Peter’s Basilica. The Canadian artist’s “Homless Jesus” statue, inaugurated in March 2016 during the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, is located in the square in front of the Vatican’s apostolic charity offices.

A prominent Catholic humanitarian agency in the Middle East has expressed concern over sudden cuts to U.S. financial assistance affecting its ministries aiding the displaced, refugees and the impoverished.

In February, the Trump administration announced it was dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development by eliminating more than 90% of its foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall U.S. development and humanitarian assistance abroad.

This decision has negatively impacted major projects that Catholic organizations share with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, and the World Food Program, the world’s largest provider of food aid, which receive American funding.

WFP head Cindy McCain warned April 7 the cuts “will deepen hunger, fuel instability, and make the world far less safe,” in a post on X.

Father Michel Abboud, the Carmelite president of Caritas Lebanon, called the ending of U.S. humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees and poor Lebanese alarming.

“We are all shocked and surprised. If we had been prepared for such a decision, we could find another source for our projects and necessary budget, but these have been severe decisions,” he told OSV News by phone from Beirut.

However, Father Abboud welcomed on April 10 the Trump administration’s reinstatement of some recently canceled U.S. foreign aid programs for emergency food assistance provided by the WFP.

“This is good news for us,” the Caritas Lebanon president said of the administration’s reversal. Earlier, WFP received termination letters for work in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, among other countries.

With WFP, Caritas Lebanon provides tens of thousands of hot meals, as well as food parcels, to people in Lebanon displaced by conflict and insecurity.

“Working with WFP, we have been providing critical food aid also to many poor Lebanese. If we stop now, how will they be able to find food from another source?” Father Abboud asked.

But the stoppage of U.S. funding to UNHCR is having a dire impact on Caritas work in Lebanon and Jordan. Already, 10% of Caritas Lebanon’s budget and work had been curtailed by U.S. cuts to its work with the U.N. refugee agency. Education, legal counseling, primary health care, child protection and psychosocial support are among the services provided, Father Abboud said.

In addition to shrinking vital services, “every project has its staff, and thus it has created unemployment for our workers. This has compounded an already difficult situation,” Father Abboud explained.

More than 2,000 people have been affected by cuts impacting the UNHCR partnership with non-governmental organizations, he said.

Some 1.5 million Syrian refugees are registered in Lebanon, a country of 5.7 million, but there are many more sheltering in the tiny Mediterranean country without papers and who need help.

“The decisions taken are creating the ‘new poor’ in Lebanon because we already have people without work,” Father Abboud said. Observers say the presence of large numbers of Syrian refugees for the past 14 years is also straining the already fragile fabric of the society and its economy.

“We continue to face a severe economic crisis, and it seems like crisis after crisis is hitting Lebanon: from the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Beirut port explosion, money blocked in the country’s banks and peoples’ savings lost, the 2024 conflict with Israel in the south and Hezbollah, and now the ending of U.S. aid. This is not easy for the Lebanese people,” he said.

While WFP does not contribute to the work of Caritas in nearby Jordan, UNHCR has played a vital role for many years as Jordan continues to shelter refugees from the region’s many conflicts, including those from Syria, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Libya.

Wael Sulieman, the general director of Caritas Jordan, told OSV News that its UNHCR assistance has been cut by 70%.

“We are still in negotiations with our partners. We will be meeting with UNHCR and then we will know what to do,” Sulieman said.

“For any of these organizations, it seems like the end of life. But I can assure you that after 25 years of working for Caritas, we have passed through difficult moments always because this is part of the life of any NGO (nongovernmental organization),” he said.

“Anybody can close a door. But I can tell you a secret: God can open 100 doors afterwards. Some people may not consider this professional. But it is professional because we are a humanitarian organization. The organization is not depending only on donors, on people, but also on God. We believe in God. We are a Catholic organization. I saw miracles take place during all these years,” Suleiman affirmed.

The Caritas Jordan chief admitted that the current circumstances are difficult and challenging — not because of Caritas or the staff, he said, but because of “the beneficiaries,” due to the lack of badly needed funding.

“This is something that hurts us,” Sulieman said. “But nevertheless, we believe that we can find a solution as Caritas is depending only on God.”