Interventions on day 5 at Middle East Synod of Bishops

(October 15, 20101) The two week Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East that began on Sunday in the Vatican, on Thursday heard from several participants on issues affecting the life of Christians in the region. The Oct. 10-24 synod is on the theme, “The Catholic Church in the Middle East: Communion and Witness.” Among the speakers on day 4 was Bishop Camillo Ballin, Apostolic Vicar Of Kuwait, who spoke about the 3 million Catholics in the Gulf region, mostly from Asia and other regions, whose existence, he explained, is incompatible with Muslim tradition according to which no other religion should exist in the land sacred to the Prophet of Islam, Mohammed. He said that assistance to the faithful cannot be limited to just Sunday celebration or even daily Mass and homilies. “We must recover the missionary aspect of the Church,” he said stressing how vitally important it is to welcome the charisms, the new ecclesial realities recognised by the Holy See. Bishop Ballin called for a truly Catholic and universal spirit, breaking the shackles of provincialism (even religious provincialism), of (ethnocentric) nationalism and (latent) racism. He ask fellow Muslims to give Christians the space to be able to pray properly.
Another participant, Italian Bishop Ruggero Franceschini, president of the Turkish Bishops Conference and apostolic administrator of the Vicariate of Anatolia, Turkey, said that the pastoral and administrative situation of his vicariate was very appalling. His predecessor Bishop Luigi Padovese, was brutally murdered by his driver on June 3, in a country where Christians have been attacked and killed earlier. Bishop Franceshini said that besides divisions within his tiny fragile Christian community, the Vicariate of Anatolia also lacks personnel and finance. He urged the universal church to help them out saying, “our people and those who have shed their blood do deserve special attention.”
Card. Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, called for a United Nations resolution on religious freedom as an alternative to the resolution condemning defamation of religion. “We should reaffirm that an authentic religious freedom includes the freedom to preach and proselytise,” the cardinal told the synod assembly. “Religious freedom,” he pointed out, “is about the privilege of a believer to form, live and proclaim, without constraints by the state, his or her religious experience, thus contributing to the social order”. Thus, “minority religions and Churches in the Middle East should not suffer from discrimination, violence, defamatory campaigns, the prohibition of building worship places or holding public celebrations.” The promotion of UN Resolutions condemning defamation of religions, should not be limited only to Islam in the Western world, Cardinal Turkson said. It should also include Christianity in the Muslim world”. Hence he proposed to “promote the adoption of a UN resolution on Religious Freedom as an alternative to the resolution on defamation of religions”.
Lebanese Patriarch Ignace Youssif III Younan of Antioch of the Syrians said that the salvation of Middle East Christians lies in the courageous adherence to the Saviour’s message and in fearless proclamation of ‘Truth’ in authentic charity. He noted that Jesus defended the ‘Truth’, synonym of the unalienable right of a person to freedom, while proclaiming His salvation to all, even to those who opposed His message of ineffable and universal love.
Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council For Social Communications spoke of the impact of the media on daily life, especially through television, radio, cinema, websites and social networks. He thus called for training in this line of not only pastoral workers, lay people and journalists, but also seminarians. Without priests and without bishops who understand modern culture, the communication gap will persist, hampering the transmission of the faith to the young, he said. Obviously, he added, this does not mean ignoring personal encounter and physical community life.