As anticipated by AsiaNews yesterday (see earlier post on this page)...
Pope announces special Synod assembly
for the Middle East in October 2010
The Pope is flanked by Cardinal Leonardi Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches (left, above) and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State.
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Sept. 19 (Translated from Apcom) - The Pope has officially announced the convocation of a special Synod assembly for the Middle East next year.
Benedict XVI made the announcement to the Patriarchs and major Archbishops of the Oriental Churches whom he met this morning at the Sala della Rocca of the Apostolic Palace in Castel Gandolfo.
"I take the occasion to announce a Special Assembly of the Bishops Synod for the Middle East, called by me to take place October 10-24, 2010, on the theme "The Catholic Church in the Middle East: Communion and testimony". The Biblical epigram for the assembly is
"The community of believers was of one heart and mind" (Acts 4,32).
"I have not forgotten", the Pope said, "the appeal for peace that you placed in my hands at the end of the special assembly of the Synod last October", he said. "In speaking of peace, my thoughts go first of all to the regions of the Middle East".
"On other occasions you have asked for more frequent contact with the Bishop of Rome in order to render more firm the communion of your respective Churches with the Successor of Peter, so we may examine together subjects of particular urgency.
"I realize how essential it is to promote that synodality that is so dear to Oriental ecclesiology and welcomed with appreciation by the Second Vatican Council."
It was an Iraqi bishop who had first requested the Pope directly, last January, to call a synod assembly on the situation of the Christians in the Middle East (Afghanistan, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey*).
"The problems are similar in Iraq, in Lebanon and in Palestine - Christians are leaving," explained Mons. Louis Sako, Chaldean bishop of Kirkuk. "A Synod assembly would allow us to examine and understand the problem better . If we do not have a clear vision, then Christians won't remain in teh Middle East and will leave this land that was once blessed but now appears to be cursed".
Other issues that 'deserve' a synodal assembly, says the Iraqi bishop, are Christian witness in the lands where they are a tiny minority, relationships with the Muslim majority, and relationships with the political world.
[*The paradox is that as these countries are being depopulated of their Christians, there are now large Christian communities in Saudi Arabia and the oil-rich Gulf States, which are dependent on a largely foreign work force. Majority of these foreign laborers come from the Philippines, Asia's only Catholic country. In Saudi Arabia alone, there are more than a million of them.]
Here is a translation of the remarks delivered by the Holy Father to the ranking Catholic prelates in the Middle East:
Eminent Cardinals,
Beatitudes,
Venerated Patriarchs and Major Archbishops!
I greet you all cordially and thank you for having accepted the invitation to participate in this encounter: To each of you, I give the fraternal embrace of peace.
I greet Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, my Secretary of State, and Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches, together with the Secretary and other members of the dicastery.
Let us thank God for this informal meeting which will allow us to listen to the voice of the Churches that you serve with admirable abnegation, and to strengthen the bonds of communion which link them to the Apostolic See.
Our meeting today reminds me of April 24, 2005, at the start of my Pontificate, when, at the tomb of St. Peter, I expressed the wish to undertake an ideal pilgrimage to the heart of the Christian Orient: a pilgrimage which today marks another significant stage which I intend to pursue.
In different circumstances, you have asked for more frequent contact with the Bishop of Rome in order to make ever more firm the communion of your churches with the Successor of Peter and so that we can examine together, on such occasions, subjects of particular importance.
This was a proposal you renewed at the last Plenary Assembly of the Congregation for Oriental Churches and at the General Assembly of the Bishops' Synod.
As for me, I deem it a primary duty to promote that synodality that is so dear to Oriental ecclesiology and accepted with appreciation by the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council.
I fully share the esteem of the Conciliar assembly for your Churches in the decree Orientalium Ecclesiarum, and that my venerated predecessor John Paul II reiterated especially in the apostolic exhortation Orientale Lumen, along with the hope that the Catholic Churches of the East may 'flourish' in order to carry out "with renewed apostolic vigor the mission entrusted to them - to promote the unity of all Christians, especially in the East, according to the degree on ecumenism..." (Orientalium Ecclesiarum, 1).
The ecumenical horizon is often linked to the inter-religious. In both fields, the whole Church needs the experience of coexistence that your churches have matured since the first Christian millennium.
Venerated brothers, in this fraternal meeting, your interventions will certainly bring to light the problems that assail you which can only be adequately addressed by the competent offices.
I wish to assure you that you are constantly in my thoughts and in my prayers. In particular, I do not forget the appeal for peace that you placed in my hands at the end of the Bishops' Synod assembly last October.
And when speaking of peace, my thought goes, first of all, to the countries of the Middle East. Therefore, I take this opportunity to announce a Special Assembly of the Bishops' Synod for the Middle East, which I have called to meet on October 10-24, 2010, on the theme The Catholic Church in the Midde East: Communion and testimony - "The community of believers was of one heart and mind" (Acts 4,32).
Even as I express the hope that the meeting today will bring the expected results, and invoking the maternal intercession of teh Most Blessed Mary, I bless you all and the Catholic Oriental Churches from the heart.
Pope says bishops will discuss Middle East
at special meeting in October 2010
VATICAN CITY, Sept. 19 (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI has announced a special meeting of bishops next year to discuss Middle East peace efforts and the role of the Catholic Church in the region.
Addressing bishops and patriarchs from Eastern rite churches, Benedict said Saturday that the meeting will take place Oct. 10-24, 2010, and will be titled "The Catholic Church in the Middle East: communion and testimony."
The meeting of bishops, called a synod, will gather Church leaders from the Middle East and around the world.
The Pope and the Vatican have long been active on the Middle East diplomatic front, seeking to protect Christians in the Holy Land and elsewhere in the region while supporting efforts to solve the Israel-Palestinian dispute.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 20/09/2009 19:39]