Cabo Verde’s Lenten collection to go to victims of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Radio Nova de Maria, Cabo Verde.

The Lenten collection is being taken in collaboration with Caritas Jerusalem. This is according to  Bishop Ildo Fortes, who announced this after a Presbyteral Council meeting.

In recent years, Lenten collections have been channelled to solidarity institutions such as the Cabo Verdean Association for the Fight Against Cancer (ACLCC) and university students in trouble with their studies. Last year’s collection went to families needing food security on the five islands of the Diocese of Mindelo. The amount collected was about five hundred thousand escudos.

In his Lenten message for 2024, the Bishop of Mindelo Diocese invited the faithful to set out resolutely on a path of doing good.

Lent invites us to stop

The Church’s proposal to the world, said the prelate of Mindelo in his message, is clear: to convert from sinful ways, to sow the seed of beauty that opens the imagination to the transcendent, the good and the truth because this is the medicine that restores humanity back onto the path of holiness.

Paraphrasing Pope Francis, Bishop Fortes told the congregation, “Lent is a time for action. However, this action also means a time to stop: to stop in prayer, to welcome the Word of God, and to stop like the Samaritan in the presence of the wounded brother,” because “the love of God and neighbour form a single love.”

The Cabo Verdean Diocese of Mindelo is living this year’s Lenten season under the theme of the biblical passage: “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5).