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BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

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12/09/2012 23:54
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A recent interview with a Vatican consultant on Mideast affairs, the Jesuit, Fr. Samir Khalil Samir, who lives and teaches in Lebanon (when he is not teaching in Rome) reveals assessments of the region that I might describe as out of the box, and for that reason, interesting...

The Pope's trip to Lebanon and
Mideast reality post 'Arab spring'
-
Interview with Fr. Samir Khalil Samir
by Edward Pentin

September 3, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI visits Lebanon Sept. 14-16, arriving in the Middle East region at a time of bloody internal conflict in Syria and simmering tensions between Israel and Iran.

The main aim of the apostolic voyage is to present his apostolic exhortation (concluding document) on the Synod for the Middle East that took place in 2010.

In a Sept. 3 interview, the respected Egyptian scholar Jesuit Father Samir Khalil Samir discussed the Holy Father’s upcoming trip, what to expect from it, and the likely consequences for Christians of the “Arab Spring” of political revolution that spread through the region last year.

A professor of philosophy, theology and Islamic studies, Father Samir is based at St. Joseph University in Beirut and also teaches at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.

Is it right and wise for the Pope to travel now to Lebanon?
There is a risk. I don’t think anything would be organized against him, although we could have someone foolish actions. But I find it important that he so far hasn’t changed his mind.

He said he is coming, and this is also important, because it says: “I am with you. You are living in a poor, insecure situation, and I’m taking part in your problems.”

The Lebanese government may tell him that they cannot control the situation if something happens, but from his side, he is not cancelling the trip. And this is for us — Christians and Muslims — a good sign. [Obviously, the Lebanese government has said no such thing, and judging from the photos of street preps in Beirut, they don't seem to have any doubt that they have the situation well in hand.]

Do you think that, in view of the “Arab Spring” and the current situation in the Middle East, this visit couldn’t really come at a better time?
Yes, we need this reassurance: for him to say to the world there is something more important than war and violence.

Is there a danger, in your view, that the current conflict in neighboring Syria could spill over into Lebanon while he’s there?
I think we’re used to having in Lebanon some local problems. In the last months, it was usually between Sunni and Shia. It could happen, because it’s also becoming part of a conflict in the whole area...
We have people from both sides here — and refugees from Syria. Something could happen, but I don’t think this will change the whole situation.

How important is it that the apostolic exhortation be delivered now? Is it more relevant, given the current circumstances?
Yes, the Synod, which took place in October 2010, had important issues: it was for Christians, particularly for Catholics, but also, about relations between Christians and Muslims, and the social and political situation.

It’s important for us to rethink our mission. Do we have a mission? Are we conscious of this mission, and what exactly is our mission?

People are leaving the country, but if we reflect, there is danger only in some countries, for example, in Palestine and Iraq. But in Lebanon, there is no reason for a Christian to leave. Even in Egypt, there are problems and discrimination, but no real reasons to leave Egypt. And there is no discrimination in Jordan and not even in Syria.

So the first point to make is to remain here because we have a mission, and we need to find this mission together. It’s a mission of dialogue with Muslims and also announcing the Gospel to Muslims and living it in such a way.

Muslims have a right to know the Gospel. Muslims who are convinced of their faith think we Christians have the right to know the Quran. In this sense, I think only we, as Arab Christians, could say something to Muslims that is valid for both their culture and our culture.

A second point, one that is internal to the Church, is reform in the Church. The Catholic Church in the Middle East is a little bit too clerical. But the role of laypeople is very important because they can say something on social, political problems, and we have no other voices. Laymen have real dialogue every day with Muslims, but if we dialog only through the bishops or the patriarch, then it remains at a theoretical level.

It’s important that lay Christians understand their responsibility towards the state; it’s more important than in Europe, where people have a Christian culture, even if not the faith.

This high level of pluralism and democracy is already practiced in Lebanon?
Yes, but not in other countries. The Pope’s trip is to Lebanon, but it’s really for the whole Middle East. He has chosen Lebanon for obvious reasons: because it has a strong Christian minority, almost 40%; the “infrastructure” of the Catholic Church in Lebanon allows such a visit; and also because of the openness of the Muslims in Lebanon towards these questions.

Ecumenically, it’s very important as well, to tell the Orthodox that, yes, there are slight differences between us, but also nothing really fundamental and that we want to work together.

Lastly, between Muslims and Christians, we have problems. We are fighting in a Muslim society for more liberty of conscience, which is practically unknown in their cultur]e. But we are doing so not only for us, but for the Muslims, too, who have a right to think independently of their imams.

[That's a very equivocal and dangerous way of stating what freedom of conscience is! Dissident Catholics could take it word for word and substitute 'Pope' or 'priests' for 'imams' to justify their dissidence. In the Catholic Church, the word 'conscience' is always to be considered as a 'conscience formed according to Catholic teaching'. The secularists who proclaim their 'freedom of conscience' mean that they are free to think whatever they please, including opposition to what the Church teaches. Of course, they are free to think as they please - the consequences are their own personal responsibility and no one else's - but they should not then seek to impose their 'individual conscience' on the Church, which is what the dissidents are trying to do.] ]

How likely is it that any Muslims, even extremists Muslims, will go along with that?
Extreme Muslims — Salafists — don’t agree with anything, not even with Al Azhar [University in Cairo, which is the chief center of Arabic literature and Islamic (Sunni only) learning in the world]. They have their line; they want a [worldwide!] caliphate totally under Islamic law … so, for them, dialogue is almost impossible, not even with their fellow Muslims.

Who understands the important role of Christians in Muslim societies?
Christians throughout history, particularly in the Middles Ages, but also in the 20th century, have been the motor behind the renewal of structures [in the Muslim world]. [Really????] They introduced more democracy, more openness in diplomacy, more social work and services, and in education, a total renewal of Arabic thought. This is well-known.

[With all due respect to Fr. Samir, I am confused. Christians have worked 'a total renewal of Arabic thoucht"???? How? When? If that had been so, Benedict XVI's Regensburg lecture would not have been necessary at all! And what structures in Muslim society have Christians managed to change - when scuh structures are literally dictated by and established according to the Koran? I do not understand it when a journalist who does an interview with someone who has a reputation as an 'expert' or a 'scholar' does not challenge the latter when he makes statements that are at the very least questionable or badly stated! One can ask the expert for a clarification without disrespecting his reputation!]

Is the problem with the “Arab Spring” that the number of extremists are increasing, becoming the majority?
I don’t think so. A majority of people voted for the Islamists, but it does not mean that this majority is [necessarily] in favor of the Islamists - it may simply be there was no party stronger than the Islamists. The youth who started the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt were divided, belonging to dozens of parties, and they were not politically organised and unified.

Take Tunisia, which is a very secular country and where Christians are almost inexistent. Islamists took power because they have the political organisation. The same thing happened in Egypt, reinforced by the large illiteracy of the population.

In Syria, I’m not so sure. Islamists are trying to take power, but the secular segment of Syria is still stronger.

Do you foresee reform in the Middle East?
I think people in the Arab world really want a change, not a change in religion, but a change in the authoritarianism of their religion, the extremism.

Al Azhar published three documents last year saying Islam means moderation, a religion of the “just middle.” It was directed against the two strongest Muslim movements, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists. These movements are winning now, but for how long?

So as Christians, we have to take a longer view, to look not only at the next two years. The general movement appears headed in the direction of more democracy, liberty and equality between men and women, between Muslims and non-Muslims, and so on. But it will take some time, maybe some decades.

So you believe the Arab spring will be a good thing in the long run?
Yes, I think so. It’s now very disappointing for everyone including me, but thinking it over, it’s [the Christians’] fault: We were not able to organize ourselves politically. [Not that - in Egypt, at least - Christians ever sought to have a political organization! Can you imagine what they would havr brought on themselves if they had tried that? Whereas the Muslim Brotherhood have done nothing but organize politically and ideologically since the movement was born two decades ago. Even if the Christians of Egypt had tried - and been allowed - to organize politically after the revolution happened last year, there was no way they could have registered any significant impact when the elections were held. How can they be at fault in a society and culture where all the cards are stacked against them?]

Let’s give the Muslim Brotherhood a chance. They are not worse than the others, but we don’t want to fall into a religious dictatorial system. If they are really able to help countries socially, help people have enough to eat and have jobs, and help the country in education, in implementing a wise diplomacy, and in having good relations with everyone, not starting wars, etc., then why not? If this is the Muslim Brotherhood, then I’m in favor of them.

The main point is to accept the fact that they have the majority does not mean they have the right to decide alone. The majority means that your opinion is stronger, but you have to take account of the minority, especially when the minority is not a small one.

[One must admire Fr. Samir for being so optimistic and so charitable towards the Muslim Brotherhood. But when has an extremist Islamic government ever proven to be benevolent, or failing that, even be fairly successful in elevating their countrymen's quality of life? Or, for that matter, ever taking the minority view into account, as the good father suggests? Where does charity end and willful naivete begin? Are national interests really the priority goal of the Islamists, or is it the now more-than-ever-alive obsesssion to have Islamists take over the reins in the Muslim nations, while simultaneously carrying out all forms of asymmetric attacks to undermine the West and sweep aside any obstacles on the Islamists' road to world domination?]

Regarding the Pope’s trip overall, are you optimistic about its effects? Do you think it could be a great success?
I don’t think it’ll be a visible success. ... I think it will be very nice — people in Lebanon are happy when they meet a religious personality, certainly.

The question is how we will react. If we take this apostolic exhortation as merely a paper, and, okay, some bishops read it, this will be a failure. But if we say: This is a guideline, a program, with some suggestions, and we sit together, Christians and Muslims, and see what is good for us, what is applicable and how to apply this or that point, it will be successful.

[But that is judging the trip by the eventual pastoral effects of the Apostolic Exhortation! The Middle Eastern patriarchs and bishops know exactly what the Synod conclusions were, and if they have not yet begun to implement its actionable measures, what are they waiting for?

I don't think the trip will just be 'very nice' as Fr. Samir says, and, short of any catastrophic development, it will be a 'visible success' as a visit, as all of the Pope's apostolic trips have been.

Only the foolish would even think that a few days visit by the Pope would result in immediate visible changes in a long-established socio-cultural setting, although it is likely there will be a residual enthusiasm among the Christian communities - an enthusiasm and a readiness that their bishops and priests should avail of in order to reaffirm and implement the major messages from the Pope's Apostolic Exhortation.]



Here is an unexpectedly insightful interview with the Nuncio in Beirut, who goes beyond the usual commonplaces to underscore the dilemma of the Christian communities in unstable societies like Syria.

The Nuncio in Beirut speaks about
preparations to welcome the Pope
and the practical realities faced by
religious minorities in the Mideast

'Christians do not support authoritarian regimes as charged,
but they fear that any government collapse will lead to loss
of the civil order that guarantees mimimum conditions for survival'

Translated from the Italian service of

Sept, 12, 2012


"As it awaits the Pope, Lebanon has the occasion to recall the greatness and beauty of the country's calling - a nation in which diverse identities can live together in mutual respect".

Such is the framework in which the Apostolic Nuncio to Lebanon, Mon. Gabriele Caccia, sets the Pope's visit this weekend, with a crescendo of positive signs manifested throughout Lebanon on the eve of the Pope's arrival.

Mons. Caccia spoke to Fides news agency about the 'great expectation' not just among the Christians of Lebanon, but from all the other components of Lebanon's multi-cultural adn multi-ethnic society, evidenced most, he said, by "signs of appreciation coming to us from Sunnis, Shiites, Druses and Alawites" (referring to the four major branches of Islam in the country).

As images of Benedict XVI, along with Lebanese and Vatican flags, adorn the street of Beirut, local newspapers have been featuring the motto for the Pope's trip "My peace I give you" on front-page banners. It is a Gospel mesasge from Christ, said Mons. Caccia, "that corresponds full to the expectations of all the Lebanese people".

Besides thej exterior signs of preparation, Mons. Caccia emphasized the spiritual preparation among the Catholic communities: "All the churches in Lebanon have been holding a novena to prepare for the visit. Five major prayer vigils in five regions of the country have taken place, along with miltiple initiatives of encounter and reflection taking place in the parishes with the participation of Christians and Muslims."

This will be climaxed, he said, by a prayer vigil Wednesday night in Beirut, when two processions coming from Christian neighborhoods and two from Muslim neighborhoods will converge in the downtown park dedicated to Mary.

Pope Benedict's visit comes at a delicate moment, when the fragile political equilibrium in Lebanon is being put to the test by the civil war in Syria and the overall social unease consequent to the global economic crisis.

Mons. Caccia warned against any reductive political interpretation of what the Pope will say and do in Lebanon:

"It would be useful for everyone to consider the wide horizon of the Pope's visit, which confronts the situation of the entire Middle East (and Muslim North Africa) and not just the Lebanese situation.

"The post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation which the Pope will deliver to the bishops of the region will contain suggestions and directives to be translated by the local churches in their own particular context, regarding what Christian communites can do in the fields of educastion, economics, social work, humanitarian aid, and even in politics. One must also note that great changes have taken place in the region since the Synod took place in October 2010".

Responding to insistent demands that the Holy See 'take a position' regarding the war in Syria and the other Mideast uprisings, Mons. Caccia repeated the criteria employed by the Holy See in evaluating geopolitical developments.

"One can simply refer to what the Pope has said in public about the Middle East situation, up to his words at the Angelus last Sunday. The first consideration is always the sufferings that are inflicted on the population. It needs the cooperaiton of all concerned to stop the spiral of violence and make evente evolve toward a positive outcome, under the clear leadership and initiative of the international community. The first peace initiative entrusted to Kofi Annan failed, unfortunately, but the rationale remains the same. One must realize that the situation in Syria is not entirely dependent on internal factors, that it is necessarily influenced by the overall repositioning of the axis of forces in the region".

The Nuncio also disputed the general accusation that most of the Christian communities in the Middle East have tended to support authoritarian regimes to which they are subject. He cited Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Rai who said: "Christians do not support authoritarian regimes, but they feat the dissolution of the State. Many are fearful that Middle Eastern societies may be heading the way of Iraq where the Iraqi people now feel a total lack of security in their daily lives. Christians fear that collapse of any government at this time will lead to the loss of that civilian order that guarantees the minimum conditions for survival".

That is why, Mons. Caccia said, however dififcult the challenge is, the international community should try all possibly ways to stop the arbitrary violence committed by all factions. "The violence spares no one. That is very clear even by looking at the refugees fleeing the war zones who belong to all the various religious and ethnic groups".
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 13/09/2012 17:58]
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