“Even with this intervention, the faithful will be able to continue visiting the basilica, the most special place for the Christian world,” assured the Vicar Custodian of the Holy Land.
Newsroom (03/18/2022 13:20, Gaudium Press) The guardian communities of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre gathered on Monday, March 14, to participate in the ceremony to launch the conservation project for the Basilica’s floor.
The ceremony began with a prayer and speech by each of the participants in front of the Holy Sepulchre Shrine. Then the representatives of the three communities and the institutions involved went to the corridor in front of the Franciscans’ Sacristy to remove the first stone. From this place the work will begin.
A historical moment for the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
“The project that we are starting today with this simple ceremony began three years ago, after the restoration of the Edicule. It is undoubtedly a historic moment for this Holy Place and also for the community relations that are present here in the Basilica and in the Holy City of Jerusalem,” said Friar Dobromir Jasztal, OFM, Vicar Custodial of the Holy Land.
The religious emphasizes that the works will not impede the visits of the faithful to the Holy Sepulcher. “Every day, hundreds of pilgrims visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and, even with this intervention, the faithful will be able to continue visiting the basilica, the most special place for the Christian world,” he assured.
Friar Francesco Patton: A Reason for Great Joy
For the Custos of the Holy Land, Friar Francesco Patton, OFM, this “is a blessed day, because together, after this long period of study and also after the challenges faced during the pandemic, we were able to begin the second phase of the work. Therefore, to have started is a reason for great joy.”
“I believe that it is also a sign, in this very difficult time that the world is experiencing. From here in this Holy Place, even during the work, we will always be raising our prayers unceasingly for the end of the pandemic and for peace and for the end of the war, which is happening today in Ukraine, but also for the end of all the less noticed wars that exist in the world,” he concluded.
Personalities present at the ceremony
Present at the ceremony were: Friar Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land; the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilus III; the representative of the Armenian Patriarchate Sevan Gharibian; the Apostolic Delegate for Jerusalem, Bishop Adolfo Tito Yllana; and Friar Dobromir Jasztal, Vicar of the Custody.
Representatives of the institutions that are carrying out the restoration project were also present. They are: the University “La Sapienza” of Rome; the Conservation and Restoration Center “La Venaria Reale”; the Polytechnic of Milan; the company Manens of Padua; and the company IG Geotechnical Engineering of Turin. (EPC)
Compiled by Teresa Joseph
