Vatican City, 30 April 2015 (VIS) –
Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the
Oriental Churches, spoke yesterday at the opening of the Symposium
“Christians in the Middle East: what future?”, organised by the
Sant'Egidio Community and the archdiocese of Bari-Bitonto, Italy.
In his address, the cardinal remarked
that many Christians in the East, hearing just a few days ago the
story of Pilate's famous gesture of washing his hands, “may have
thought of the indifference and inaction to which the international
community appears to have resigned itself before the tragedies that
have for some years now been wearing away at Syria and Iraq”. He
added, “it is also saddening to see the incapacity of leaders in
Lebanon, even those who are Christians, to arrive at consensus on the
new president on the basis of a line of conduct due less to
conscience than to the weighty influences of the forces that compete
for supremacy in the area”.
“We trust, however, that in the heart
of all people, both in the West and in the East, the governor
Pilate's poignant question remains alive: 'Quid est veritas?', 'What
is truth?', followed by his search and service to it. The truth is
first and foremost an act of removing every veil and covering from
reality. It cannot be denied that if a solution has not yet been
found it is certainly because the problems are many and complex, and
also touch upon the internal relations between the different groups
of Muslim faithful and between them and other religions present in
the region, including Christians. But it is also legitimate to think
that there are interests and balances of power and wealth that go
before – seemingly without conceding a step – the mere survival,
rather than the well-being, of the populations. And this is a
scandal: let us remember what the Lord says, still today, to all the
Cains on earth: 'What have you done? The voice of your brother's
blood is crying to me from the ground'.
Cardinal Sandri went on to mention that
every year he launches an appeal, on behalf of the Holy Father, for
support and aid to Christians in the Holy Land, a term that
designates not only those who live within the borders of the State of
Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but also all the places linked
to salvation history, the area of Mesopotamia and Persia, where the
apostles preached, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt, where the Holy
Family sought refuge.
“But mentioning a presence thus
configured must be an indication of a method also for discussion at
other levels”, he added. “It is not possible to speak of
stability in the Middle East without reference to the age-old
question of Israel and Palestine, accepting that Christians are
permitted to live relatively peacefully in both territories. On the
other hand, there must be no doubt regarding the need for all States,
including Israel, to exist and be protected, not threatened. It is
the task of Christian pastors throughout the Middle East to help
their faithful to grow in this knowledge, pouring abundant oil of
consolation, forgiveness and mercy on the wounds of the recent past.
If we do not move in this direction, there is no doubt that
power-crazed groups such as ISIS will multiply, especially as they
are supported with arms and resources by various interested parties”.
“The West appears to have lost, over
the centuries, the capacity for conceiving of itself within a healthy
religious framework of reference, and increasingly favours an
exasperated secular model, if not indeed a true 'eclipse of God'.
The destruction and horrors of the Middle East – which some wish to
attribute exclusively to the religious factors – must not become an
excuse to confirm this partial and mistaken vision, but rather a
stimulus for rethinking the coexistence of and collaboration between
different sectors of society for the full development of humanity”,
concluded the prefect.
The participants in the symposium
subsequently attended the Basilica of St. Nicholas, patron of Bari,
where they prayed for the saint's intercession to bring an end to the
suffering of Christians in the Middle East and to accompany the work
of the Pan-Orthodox Council, to be held in Turkey in 2016.
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