Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "Cultural" dialogue and works of charity are the means that Benedict XVI has recommended to Iranian Catholics to foster mutual understanding with Muslims. This is the work of a small minority that asks to be able to "preserve its own identity" and "live its faith freely," and finds itself facing the problem of those who seek "elsewhere," meaning in Islam, more favorable living conditions.
No reference to the controversy over Iran's nuclear program, which pits the country against the United Nations, or to the political situation in the Middle East in the address that the pope delivered today to the Iranian bishops, received at the end of their five-year "ad limina"visit. Just a passing reference to the fact that Iran, "a bridge between the Middle East and the Asian subcontinent," "will not fail to realize the vocation" proper to the Church, of "encouraging all those who have at heart the common good and peace among nations."
The different Catholic communities present in the country - about 20,000 faithful in the three rites: Chaldean, Armenian, and Latin - in the words of Benedict XVI, have some problems in common. "They must develop harmonious relations with the public institutions that, with the help of God, will certainly develop little by little and will permit them to realize better their mission in the Church in mutual respect and for the good of all." In encouraging the bishops to promote all initiatives that might foster better understanding, the pope pointed out two in particular: "that of cultural dialogue, Iran's rich multi-millennia heritage, and that of charity. This latter," he added, "will illuminate the former, and will be its engine."
As for life within the Catholic communities, the pope highlighted that the small number of the faithful does not permit the emergence of sufficient vocations, for which reason priests must move around from one area to another. This is one of the problems that must be addressed by a bilateral commission with the state.
Entirely within the Church, instead, is the situation of those Catholics who "seek elsewhere more favorable conditions for their professional life and for the education of their children. This legitimate desire is found in the inhabitants of many countries, and finds its foundation in the human condition that always seeks improvement. This situation prompts you, as pastors of your flock, to help in a particular way the faithful living in Iran, and to encourage them to remain in contact with the members of their families who have chosen another destiny. In this way, they will be able to preserve their identity and their ancestral faith."
