POPE WELCOMES CATHOLIC PATRIARCHS PARTICIPATING IN SYNOD

VATICAN CITY, OCT 26, 2001 (VIS) - John Paul II this morning welcomed the six Catholic patriarchs who are participating in the Synod of Bishops and told them that their "presence at this meeting ... expresses in an especially meaningful way the catholicity of the Church."

He received Cardinal Stephanos II Ghattas, patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts, Egypt; Ignace Pierre VIII Abdel-Ahad, patriarch of Antioch of the Syrians, Lebanon; Gregoire III Laham, patriarch of Antioch of the Greek-Melkites, Syria; Cardinal Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir, patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, Lebanon; Raphael I Bidawid, patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, Iraq and Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenians, Lebanon.

"I happily welcome this occasion," said the Holy Father, "to express once again my spiritual closeness to your trials and to those of the populations entrusted to your pastoral care. Together let us pray so that the serious problems that you must face daily may find a ready and satisfying solution. At this time, my thoughts go to the land made holy by the presence and preaching of the Redeemer. The land in which He shed His blood for the salvation of the world and from which, when He arose from the dead, He sent His apostles to the world.

"I assure you," the Pope added, "that every day I follow with close attention the events involving the peoples of the Middle East and, in communion with the entire Church, I pray daily that we might see the dawn of a lasting and honorable peace for everyone. In this moment of intense fraternal communion, I ask you to extend to the clergy, consecrated persons and all the faithful an expression of my most cordial greetings."

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