WHILE THE POPE IS IN IRAQ - YOU MAY OFFER THE LITANY OF ST JOSEPH FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS - AND GAIN A PLENARY INDULGENCE
In t his year of St Joseph, the Vatican's Apostolic Penitentiary issued a decree which lists 15 distinct acts of piety which you may do to gain a Plenary Indulgence. One which you may consider doing at this time is to recite the Litany of St Joseph for the intentions of persecuted Christians. May I suggest you make it an urgent priority to offer the Litany for persecuted Christians in Iraq? Pope Francis is in Iraq for his papal visit, and today he was in Baghdad's Cathedral where he held forth, "We are gathered in this cathedral of Our Lady of Salvation hallowed by the blood of our brothers and sisters who here paid the ultimate price of their fidelity to the Lord and His Church." When Francis uses "hallowed", he means that the ground he stood on was sanctified by the river of blood that ran through it. M any Catholics were massacred in that same cathedral in August, 2010. It was Sunday evening, a congregation of ordinary people were assisting at Mass whe