Preparations for Synod of Bishops for Middle East underway

(Sept.29,2010) Various activities are under way leading up to the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, which will take place Oct. 10-24 in Rome. These activities include a multimedia exhibition with images of the daily life of Christians in the Holy Land, Iran and the Arabian Peninsula, and a crowded calendar of gatherings with bishops, religious, journalists and other experts from that region. These activities are part of an initiative, called "A Look at Christians of the Middle East," which was presented Thursday in Rome at the headquarters of Italian Catholic Action.
Fr. Giuseppe Ferrari, Italian delegate of the Holy Land Custodia, told a press conference that the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, represents the occasion of a special trip to the origins of Christian history, in a complex and extremely varied region. He noted that the Middle East is a sort of concentration of problems of the universal Church. For this reason, Fr.Ferrari explained, this synod will be an important occasion for mutual updating, meeting and reflection on the challenges and hopes that touch those Churches and the Christian communities that live there."
There will be several meetings, two of which will be dedicated to the memory of Bishop Luigi Padovese, vicar apostolic of Anatolia, Turkey, killed last June, and Fr. Michele Piccirillo, recently deceased Franciscan archaeologist, to whom are owed many valuable discoveries in the Holy Land.