Card. Sandri seeks urgent support to Eastern Christians

January 19, 2013: An injury to the heart of the city of Aleppo, said Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, when referring to the attack on Tuesday, January 15 which devastated local universities, causing 82 deaths, and also damaged Latin cathedral, the religious houses of Dorotee nuns and missionaries of charity. Cardinal Sandri was speaking on Friday during the meeting promoted by the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA), held in Rome January from 16 to 18, at the headquarters of the equestrian order of Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

After recalling his visit to Aleppo in January 2011 to consecrate the new cathedral in Latin America, Cardinal Sandri then pointed out that he had not been able to "predict what winter was coming instead of the desired spring. With fervent prayers to the Lord for the victims - he added - and firm condemnation against those responsible, we join confident the appeals of the Holy Father to reconciliation and peace." Because "the weakest link in this long chain of violence too seem to be Christians." Therefore, the aid to Eastern Christians becomes even more urgent and necessary.

Cardinal Sandri has outlined these communities. "Apart from the larger entity (the Byzantines Ukrainians, the Syro-Malabar Indians, Lebanese Maronites), these are also marked by trials that appear endless." But they also "bring a wealth of liturgical, theological, canonical and great artistic value, in a variety of lively, original, spiritual and cultural traditions. "So much so that "still, they offer a contribution to the protection of man, of his dignity and freedom, especially in the fields of education, and social life."

The Second Vatican Council, said the Cardinal, recognized the identity of the Eastern Catholic Churches, calling them "living witnesses of origin'. For this, they must develop "to meet the ecumenical and inter-religious challenge imperative for the West. They must also promote the spirit of reciprocity - real, not only overt or desired – and the mutual hospitality in the name of God."
The prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches has also warned of uncontrollable migration that "free energy of the best youth of these lands. But it is in the growing diaspora, especially in the western metropolis, that Eastern Christians" are to be involved in the new evangelization."
After listing some of the ways to help the Christian communities of the East, including the material and spiritual support, promoting pilgrimages to the Holy Land, the cardinal said that there is "a priority that is dear to the Pope and us, because it prepares the future in a short period: this is the training." And in this regard, he highlighted that the Catholic East has "a tradition of excellence, greatly appreciated by other religions. A school network of all levels welcome wherever a large number of Christians and otherwise, up to, for example, 80 percent of Muslim students at the University of Bethlehem. "

Cardinal Sandri asked the participants in the meeting to rediscover faith in charitable work. The Cardinal had celebrated a morning Mass at the tomb of the Apostle Peter in the Vatican Grottoes, before the end of the meeting in the afternoon.