Intervention of Mons. Thomas MERAM, Archbishop of Urmyā of the Chaldeans, Bishop of
Salmas, Shapour of the Chaldeans (IRAN)
Holy father benedict XVI, my brother Bishops, First of all, I would like to present
my thanks and my gratitude for all those who prepared this interesting text and gave
us the Instrumentum laboris. This Synod plants hope in us and gives us strength and
helps us to move forward, despite the difficulties, and not to despair and not to
make compromises in the face of daily difficulties, and in this way we will give a
living and Christian witness. As mentioned in the Instrumentum laboris, this (witness)
is a martyr and in many countries in the Middle East the Christian lives this martyrdom
and has to bear all sorts of calamities without denying his faith. And the Christians
from their earliest days were persecuted and history is the greatest witness to this.
Despite all the disasters and persecution, the Christians kept their deposit of faith
with complete fidelity and sincerity. The Chaldean Church in particular was persecuted
and offered thousands and thousands of her children on the altar of fidelity and love
for Christ and therefore it was properly named the Church of Martyrs, and it continued
emigrating from city to city, from country to country, up to today, and didn’t abandon
anything of her true faith, irrigated with the blood of these martyrs and saints which
conserves, strengthens and confirms her. And today I can repeat with the Prophet David:
for you everyday we are slaughtered, the Christian bears his cross every day and continues
as on the road to Golgotha and gives living and silent witness, and this silent witness
is a loud shout which echoes and this echo is heard by all those of good will; the
Christian hears every day from loudspeakers, television, newspapers and magazines
that he is an infidel and he is treated as a second-class citizen, but he stands firm
and solid and doesn’t change his faith but becomes more courageous and proud of his
faith. The emigration issue: this has been a problem for over 100 years, not only
in the Middle East but also from all the Asian, African and South American countries
and everyone has their own particular reasons, because every human being has the right
to live wherever he wants and the reasons for emigration are political, economic or
to do with well-being and a better future that is more prosperous and serene. A lot
of people are asking: what is the benefit of this Synod and what will be done for
the Middle Eastern Christians? It is true that we cannot perform miracles quickly,
but at least the Synod gives hope. And the Christian will not feel alone but that
all the Catholic Churches in the world care for him because he is an active and holy
member in the body of the whole Church. The Church in Iran: We see that the Church
feels the responsibility more seriously when she faces difficulties and despite these
trials and tribulations and occasional lack of respect we see the Church grow and
prosper. Yes, there is a strong decrease in the number of Christians, especially Catholics,
but on the other hand we see the religious and priestly vocations increasing among
the citizens of this country. Let me now give you some statistics: The late
Papal Nuncio in Iran, Bugnini, wrote a book in 1979, entitled “The Church in Iran”
and described all the Catholic Church does through Christian, human, and cultural
services, and there was only one house for the elderly and disabled. But now we have
four, which provide services free to these persons from all the Christian denominations
without discrimination based on their ecclesial or national identities. Priests
and nuns in iran in 1979 In 1979, there were only 51 priests of whom only one was
Iranian and two had been granted Iranian citizenship. There were 73 nuns of whom two
were Iranians, and the majority of priests and nuns were working in the teaching field. But
now, after the Islamic revolution, the Church faced her biggest crisis for priests
and nuns; we can see that the Holy Spirit didn’t leave the Church to face this difficulty
alone, but He inspired in the Church’s children’s hearts a feeling of profound responsibility
towards their faith and their Church. And despite the continuous emigration and the
small number of Catholics we see today vocations increase and the Church, in Iran,
like a tree, has new leaves and bears fruit. We have 14 priests, 6 of them are Iranians
and another two serve the Church outside their country, we have 4 bishops who are
not Iranians, we have 21 nuns of whom 15 are Iranians, two of them work outside Iran,
three of them are finishing their university studies and there are 10 of them serving
their Church and country according to their vocation, and we ask God to increase these
vocations. Thank you for listening.