Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The need for dialogue with Muslims, the urgency of civil rights, including freedom of religion, the duty of communion between the Christian Churches, and in first place among Catholics, the importance of formation. The problems of Christians in the Middle East are beginning to emerge in the speeches at the Synod from Bishops who live in that region, a day after the Patriarch Naguib, general relator, had traced an initial outline.
Archbishop Louis Sako, archbishop of Kirkuk, Iraq, stressed the need for a serious commitment to dialogue with Muslims. "Without dialogue with them there will no be peace or stability. Together we can eliminate war and all forms of violence. We must join our voices together to denounce the booming business of the arms trade. "
Referring in particular to the situation of Iraqi Christians, Mgr. Sako said that "the exodus that plagues our churches can not be avoided. Emigration is the biggest challenge that threatens our presence. The figures are worrying. The Eastern Churches, but also the universal Church, must take their share of responsibility and together with the international community and local authorities come up with common choices that respect the dignity of the human person. Choices based on equality and full citizenship, with commitments to partnership and protection. The strength of a State should be based on its credibility in applying laws that serve its citizens, without discrimination between the majority and minority. We want to live in peace and liberty instead of just surviving". Likening coexistence between Christians and Muslims to a "glass half full" Mgr. Elias Nassar, the Maronite bishop of Sidon, Lebanon, argued that "the ups and downs of living together are often linked to political problems." "The attachment of Muslims to prayer, fasting, charity, pilgrimages encourages their Christians neighbours to become more devout in their practise." At the same time, the presence of Christians "provokes Muslims to reflection, for example on a Christological reading of the Koran". There are, in his view, steps that could be taken in a secular state, like that of Syria during the Pauline Year, in fields such as theatre, culture and sport.
Another Lebanese Archbishop Paul Youssef Matar, a Maronite from Beirut highlighted the "responsibility" of Christians and Muslims. "From the outset children of the land - he said - Christians must not feel that they have to forge a destiny limited to themselves, but rather a common destiny with their partners." Being part of the Arab world "should not cause them to lose their rights or their freedom, but confirm them, in common with the rights and freedoms of their fellow citizens”.
As for the Muslims, the majority, "they must give a place to their Christian fellow citizens. Not just a presence in society, but in the building of society and also of its leadership.
There is also the responsibility of Western powers, which should remedy past injustices. This would also benefit the region's Christians, who are wrongly identified with them. The same Western Christians and the whole world, should express their solidarity by striving to know more about their brothers and sisters in the Middle East and "put pressure on the public opinion of their country and their rulers to restore justice in dealing with Islam and the Middle East and help the world free itself of fundamentalism and encourage moderation.
The need for communion was instead at the heart of the intervention delivered by Mgr. Jean Benjamin Sleiman, the Latin Archbishop of Baghdad (Iraq). It is “the core of our ecclesial identity, the dynamic of unity and diversity of our Church. Our presence and our future, our witness and our commitment depend on it". But "communion is above all contradicted by sectarianism”. "Rites have become confessions". "Our churches are invited to free themselves of this historical legacy in order to once again find the model of the community of Jerusalem”.
One particular aspect, finally, it was addressed by Msgr. Salim Sayegh, the Latin Patriarchal Vicar of Jerusalem in Jordan, who spoke of sects which are "causing a great doctrinal confusion". "In Jordan, for example, there are a fifty seven, five of which have more active pastors that all Catholic and Orthodox churches together". To "keep the depository of the faith "there is “an urgent need to visit the families" to "explain, defend, sow, live and help live the Catholic faith". Another concern is the "serious Christian formation of adults," and for "Catholic schools to raise awareness of their mission as Catholic schools."
