POPE PRAYS FOR THOSE WHO SUFFER IN THE HOLY LAND AND IRAQ

VATICAN CITY, NOV 21, 2002 (VIS) - This morning the Holy Father received participants in the plenary assembly of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

In his speech, the Pope referred to the topics that they were considering during their meeting: the activity carried out by the dicastery in the last four years, the election of bishops in the patriarchal Churches and the state of the Eastern Churches.

Speaking about the first point, John Paul II emphasized "the congregation's priority for liturgical and catechetic renewal, as well as the formation of the different members of the People of God, staring with candidates to holy orders and consecrated life."

With respect to the procedure of the election of bishops in the patriarchal Churches, the Holy Father said: "I will be happy to take into consideration your proposals regarding the relative norms of the Code of Canon Law of the Eastern Churches. In any case, when difficulties in applying the current canon norms are made known to the Holy See, everything will be done to help overcome them with a spirit of active collaboration."

On the state of the Eastern Churches and their prospects for pastoral renewal, the Pope affirmed that he was familiar with the difficulties that the Eastern communities encounter in many places: "Few people, lack of means, isolation, and being a minority frequently impede serene and effective educational and charitable pastoral care. In addition, there is an incessant emigration of the most prepared members of your Churches to the West."

"And what is there to say," he asked, "of the suffering endured in the Holy Land and other Eastern countries, dragged into a dangerous spiral that seems humanly unstoppable? May God end this vortex of violence as soon as possible!" John Paul II appealed for peace through the intercession of Blessed John XXIII who "lived for many years in the East, and loved the Eastern Churches so much. ... May he also intercede so that these Churches do not close themselves off to the ways of the past and so that they open up to that healthy revision that he himself desired in line with the sapient harmony between 'nova et vetera'."

The Holy Father concluded by invoking Our Lady's protection for the members of the communities that extend from the Middle East to Africa and from Europe to India, "in particular for those in the Holy Land and Iraq who are going through difficult moments of great suffering."

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