Intervention of Mons. Shlemon WARDUNI, Titular Bishop of Anbar of the Chaldeans, Curia Bishop of Babylon of the Chaldeans (IRAQ)

We thank His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI who invited us to this meeting and who is working with us and accompanying us to achieve positive and constructive results.
It is a blessed, courageous and necessary step that we took together to study our difficult problems which concern us all, and we cannot avoid them, although it came too late and we should have undertaken this a long time ago, because its importance and the serious issues that we are discussing, related to our existence or non-existence, construction or destruction, perseverance or failure, commitment or indifference, to walk forwards or backwards, and this happens when we look to the past, the present and the future.
We have to create a strong foundation and repair the destroyed and weak foundations if we want to bear witness to Jesus Christ and to live His heavenly commitments which He gave to us as life, to revitalize our behavior and fulfill the communion between us.
Nobody must weaken this communion: neither denominational or egotistical benefits must be allowed to weaken our communion, rather, we have to live fully it or our divergences will destroy us; we have to call upon and live the mutual love which will lead us to the unity from which we will have strength.
What should we do then?
1 - Love is above everything: to found a Middle Eastern committee from all churches related to the Patriarchs’ Council which should be responsible for the dialogue between the Catholic Churches, for their real rapprochement and to destroy barriers and to build close relations and encourage reciprocity in the services and to study the weak points of the sister Churches.
2- That they become one heart: to found a committee responsible for ecumenism and relations with the sister Orthodox Churches and with the Protestant communities, and to found a committee of dialogue between religions in the Middle East, which will organize constructive meetings among the three big religions as well as with other religions. To establish a strong committee to defend the oppressed and those without rights, and to stand courageously and daringly against the fanatical and partisan political groups.
3 - To emphasize the witness of faith in life, and to encourage our faithful to work in the political field because they are indigenous citizens who have their rights and duties and they have to take responsibility to guide the issues of the state according to the principles of human rights. To sensitize people to defend freedom especially religious freedom, and the freedom of conscience and freedom of expression, and here we mention specially the issue of minors that can create problems in Christian families as there is no freedom in respect to this.
4 - We must seek peace and stability in our countries and shout in one voice: no to war, yes to peace; no to the destructive weapons, yes to disarmament; no to terrorism, yes to universal brotherhood; no to divisions and strife and fanaticism, yes to unity, to tolerance and dialogue. And we must focus strongly on the fact that the Christians of the Middle East are true citizens and they have according to the international statutes two privileges: the first the right to citizenship and the second is the right to maintain their presence and not be excluded from the building of the Middle Eastern countries.
5 - To be attentive to the laity and to give them their real role in the Church and to form a committee for families and youth.
All this we place under the protection of our Mother Mary, the Mother of the East, who accompanied the first Church, and She who accompanied the first Church will accompany us today.
Amen.
[00034-02.04] [IN012] [Original text: Arabic]