Easter prayers for refugees

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33806, 1 April 1975, Page 15

Easter prayers for refugees

(N.Z. Press Assn—Copyright) JERUSALEM, March 31. American civil aircrews in Vietnam prayed for refugees from Communist - overrun areas, pilgrims gathered at the traditional site of Christ’s burial and resurrection, and Pope Paul VI preached of “a hope for all mankind” asl :the Christian world observed Easter.

Israel relaxed its security grip on the Holy City as pilgrims, fewer than in previous years, celebrated Easter services yesterday in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. About 2000 pilgrims attended a Mass celebrated by Monsignor Giacomo Beltritti,

Roman Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem. Troops and policemen patrolled the streets, and polit:ly checked handbags of pilgrims as they filed into the Crusader-era church. Security forces have been on extra alert on Christian holy days since an Arab grenade : severely wounded an American Christmas pilgrim. [ No incidents were report- ' ed in Jerusalem yesterday, ' but a bomb wounded 13 Israelis on a bus in Jewish Je-j Jrusalem on Good Friday. ! Less than a quarter of a mile from the Church of the ; Holy Sepuchre, Jews celebrating the Passover holidays crowded in front of the ■ Wailing Wall for prayers, and the cry of Moslem : muezzins calling the faithful • to pray in the city’s mos- ; ques echoed over the roofi tops. At the Vatican. Pope Paul, speaking in a strong voice

to about 400.000 Holy Year, pilgrims, spoke of the Resurrection of Christ as “a comfort for the poor and suffering ... a hope for the humble and for those who pray, for the whole Church, for all mankind.” I.n Saigon, American air- 1 crews who flew the last evacuation flights out of Da Nang attended an Easter Mass for refugees from the fallen city — and for those i who did not make it out. No (refugees attended the serI vice, held in the courtyard of a Jesuit school, but most

lof the eight World Airway s crews which flew the overcrowded jets were there. li In New York, several II thousand people strolled >i along Fifth Avenue in the (annual "Easter Parade,” but J wet. raw weather discouraged traditional bonnet (wearers from sporting their (Easter finery. Many of the paraders, instead, wore wild costumes, gaudy headresses : and outlandish makeup. , A woman and four artist friends appeared as “the Eas- ’ ter apparitions," dressed in rags, toilet paper rolls, egg boxes, and assorted veils.