(Vatican Radio) A Middle East without its Christians would be like a garden without flowers: that’s what Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Thomas Meram of Urmyā, Deputy President of the Iranian Bishops Conference, says about the persecution of Christians in the region. Jihadi militants like Islamic State (also known as ISIS or Daesh) in recent months have violently purged cities in Iraq and Syria of their Christians and other minorities.
Archbishop Meram accompanied Patriarch Louis Sako to Jordan last week. The Chaldean Patriarch was one of six Orthodox and Catholic eastern rite Church leaders from neighboring countries to attend a meeting with King Abdullah and Prince Ghazi, King Abdullah’s personal envoy and adviser for religious and cultural affairs.
In an interview with Vatican Radio, Archbishop Meram observes, “The king was very open and accepting of Syrian and Iraqi refugees.” The Hashemite kingdom is hosting 1.5 million Syrian and Iraqi refugees – only half of whom are officially registered.
Jordanian King committed to protecting Christian identity and existence
The King expressed his solidarity with the region’s Christians, saying that said that the hatred, terrorism and fanaticism spread by extremist groups have nothing to do with the values the three monotheistic religions promote. He stressed the role of Christians in building Arab-Islamic identity throughout history and underlined Jordan’s commitment to protecting the identity and existence of Arab Christians.
The Jordanian monarch has spearheaded numerous initiatives such as the “Amman Message” and “Common Word,” highlighting moderate and tolerant Islam. In September last year, he hosted another conference in Amman regarding the challenges facing Arab Christians.
During last week’s visit, Patriarch Sako appealed to Prince Ghazi to encourage peaceful and tolerant speeches in mosques.
Rethinking language and education
It is not helpful that Christians have been described as “ kaafir” or infidels for the last fourteen hundred years, says Archbishop Meram. “That’s not good.” Speaking of many in the Arab world, he adds “you have to change your teaching in the schools regarding the minorities, Christian or non-Christian – to respect the human being.” He underscores that state must also be separate from religion. “And it’s very hard I think. They cannot do it.”
Many young men are leaving their countries to fight with organizations like Islamic State or Al Nusra or Al Qaeda-linked organizations. Where does the role of education come into play in this phenomenon?
“I think this is brain washing. Or money. Or as they say, for sexual relations in heaven: you will get 40 virgin women. I can’t understand it. How can they (do this)? Or they are an instrument in the hands of others using them.”
The misery of refugees
Archbishop Meram says he visited Christian refugees in three camps in Jordan hosting some forty to fifty families in each camp. Other families he says, have rented places to stay but their money won’t last forever. “It’s miserable. There is no human dignity – it’s lost now. It is very miserable.”
He fans his arms out across the small conference room where we are speaking – it would be barely big enough to accommodate two double beds. In Jordan, parents and five or six children are sharing the same tiny space, with a sheet drawn across the room for some semblance of privacy, he says. Still, Jordan is doing what it can, he notes. “Since the Iraqi-Iranian war, Jordan (has been) like this: welcoming all the refugees.”
Airstrikes are not enough against militants
Archbishop Meram dismisses the international coalition’s airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq as fruitless: “I think there is no use for that. Because (the militants such as) Daesh or Isis or Al Nusra – when there are strikes- they will dress like other people, like civilians. You (won’t) recognize them.”
He admits he does not know what the solution to the region’s ills will be: “I don’t know what’s going on; I’m not a politician but I pray for peace. Like our Chaldean Church in Mosul for two thousand years – there were Christians (there). We have a history there. But now it’s completely (wiped out) – no history. Everything is destroyed.”
A place for Christians in the Middle East of tomorrow?
At their 2010 Synod, the Bishops of the Middle East reached out to Arab leaders, stressing that Christians want to be an integral part of their societies, contributing to their development and future. To do so, they wish to be respected as full citizens with equal rights and with the freedom to practice their faith without prejudice or restrictions. Since then, the region has erupted with the tumultuous uprisings of the Arab Spring and the rise of a new kind of ferocious Islamic extremism. We asked Archbishop Meram if the bishops hold out hope for an equitable and just Middle East?
“It’s hard to answer this question. I don’t think the Arab Spring – I would say Arab Winter – there’s no Spring. Everything is fire, killing, bombarding, from Libya to Syria to Iraq to Yemen, to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain… it’s not a spring. It’s going back one thousand four hundred years ago (to the origins of Islam).”
“We would like to be a part of these countries. Because we (too) are the owners of the land over there,” says the Archbishop, recalling that the Christians were native to the land thousands of years even before Jesus Christ appeared. Christians want to stay in their homes and in their land, “but if by force or by fire they will kick us out, what can you do? Just save your life and go out. Save your life. But we still have hope. We are still in the country; we will never leave the country. But if anybody would like to leave the country, we cannot oblige him to stay. So he can choose to stay or leave. But the Church will be over there I hope till the end of the world.”
A Middle East without its Christians, reflects Archbishop Meram, would be like “a garden without flowers. “
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Eliminating violence against children demands that States, governments, civil society and religious communities support and enable the family to carry out its proper responsibility, according to the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations in New York.
Archbishop Bernardito Auza was speaking on Friday at a committee meeting on the Rights of the Child. He also reminded delegates of the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which he called a “prominent standard” in the promotion and protection of the rights of the child.
“It contains such fundamental principles as the protection of the rights of the child before as well as after birth, the family as the natural environment for the growth and education of children, and the right of the child to health care and education,” said Archbishop Auza.
“Moreover, my delegation recalls that too many children are denied the most fundamental right to life; that prenatal selection eliminates babies suspected to have disabilities and female children simply because of their sex; that too many children still lack sufficient food and housing; that in many countries they have no access to medicines; that they are sold to traffickers, sexually exploited, recruited into irregular armies, uprooted by forced displacements, or compelled into debilitating work,” he said.
The full statement by Archbishop Auza is below
Statement of H.E. Archbishop Bernardito Auza
Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations
at the 69th Session of the General Assembly
Third Committee: Agenda Item 64 (a,b): Rights of Children
New York, 17 October 2014
Madam Chair,
Last month, while opening the second regular session of the UNICEF Executive Board, the Executive Director Ambassador Anthony Lake did not dwell on the improvement achieved last year of the living conditions of children in the areas in which UNICEF traditionally operates. Instead, he focused on the growing number of humanitarian crises afflicting our world today, to keep us on the alert about the enormous challenges the international community faces in providing children the protection they are entitled to.
It is an unfortunate reality that every conflict, every outbreak of an epidemic, every natural disaster has the potential to roll back the steady progress the world has made in recent decades in reducing child mortality and improving access to nutrition, safe water and education.
But more tragic still when such rollbacks are caused by tragedies perpetrated by humans, in which children are specifically targeted, victimized and instrumentalized. This is what the Special Representatives of the Secretary General on Children and armed conflicts and on Violence against children, and the Special Rapporteur on the Sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography tell us in their Reports presented in this session. In recent years, almost three million children have been killed in armed conflicts; six million have been left disabled; tens of thousands mutilated by antipersonnel mines. In spite of the laudable efforts by many actors and governments, recruitment of child soldiers persists. Even more alarming are the facts that this has spread in some regions where this phenomenon was not rampant and that there have been recent cases of children forced to commit terrorist acts like suicide bombings.
Moreover, my delegation recalls that too many children are denied the most fundamental right to life; that prenatal selection eliminates babies suspected to have disabilities and female children simply because of their sex; that too many children still lack sufficient food and housing; that in many countries they have no access to medicines; that they are sold to traffickers, sexually exploited, recruited into irregular armies, uprooted by forced displacements, or compelled into debilitating work.
Eliminating violence against children demands that States, governments, civil society and religious communities support and enable the family to carry out its proper responsibility. Thus, my delegation attaches great importance to the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the International Year of the Family. It offers an opportunity to refocus on the role of the family in development and to reflect on what this primordial institution can do to face the multiple challenges threatening the holistic development of children in both developing and industrialised countries.
It is in the same vein that my delegation strongly concurs with the recommendation contained in the Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary General on violence against children that informed and engaged parents and caregivers who support and advise children in their access to the internet and the use of ICTs open avenues for a safer online experience. The caring mediation of parents minimises risks without limiting the child’s skills and learning opportunities. To become parents is not simply a question of bringing children into the world, but also of educating them to become creative members of society and responsible citizens.
My delegation also welcomes the plan of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography to promote, facilitate and organise awareness-raising and advocacy activities, in order to enhance knowledge and visibility around these issues. Moreover, listening to the appeal of the Special Representative of the Secretary General on children and armed conflicts, the Catholic Church continues to commit itself to working for the release of child soldiers, in their education and reintegration into their families and societies.
In November, we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which remains a prominent standard in the promotion and protection of the rights of the child. The Holy See regards it as a proper and laudable recognition of the fundamental rights and inherent dignity of every human person acknowledged by the United Nations in various other instruments. It contains such fundamental principles as the protection of the rights of the child before as well as after birth, the family as the natural environment for the growth and education of children, and the right of the child to health care and education. Moreover, my delegation calls on governments and civil society to encourage all initiatives and activities aimed at the promotion and protection of the rights of the child and, in this context, welcomes the selection of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winners.
For its part, the Catholic Church, mainly through its more than 300,000 social and educational institutions around the world, especially in depressed and war-torn regions, will continue working daily to ensure both education and food for children, as well as the reintegration of the victims of violence into their families and into society.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican) Pope Francis announced on Monday that Blessed Joseph Vaz, the Apostle of Sri Lanka, will be declared saint on Jan. 14, 2015. It will take place during his visit to the island nation Jan. 13-15. He fixed the canonization date at the start of the consistory of cardinals in the Vatican convoked to update the prelates on the situation of the Christians of the Middle East, especially in Iraq and Syria, and the commitment of the Church for peace in the region. Another canonization date – that of Italian Sr. Maria Cristina of the Immaculate Conception – has not been decided.
Known as the Apostle of Sri Lanka for his ingenious apostolic zeal in reviving the Catholic faith in Sri Lanka under the harsh persecution of Calvinist Dutch rule in the 17th century, Fr. Vaz, an Oratorian priest from what is today Goa, India, was declared Blessed by St. John Paul II in January, 1995 in Sri Lanka. On Sept. 17, Pope Francis declared Blessed Vaz would be canonized, and the date was announced on Oct. 20.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis convened a Consistory of Cardinals on Monday morning in the Vatican. Originally scheduled in order to proceed with the causes of saints – including that of Goa native and evangelizer of Sri Lanka, Blessed Joseph Vaz, CO, for whose canonization the Cardinals voted this morning, establishing the date of his canonization Mass for January 14 th , 2015, during the Holy Father’s visit to Sri Lanka – the Holy Father expanded the agenda of the meeting to include discussion of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.
At a briefing following the morning session, the Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ, explained that the participants, among whom were counted the Patriarchs of the Oriental Catholic Churches present and based in the region, used the occasion to speak broadly of the challenges facing Christians throughout the entire Middle East, to express gratitude for the spiritual closeness of the Universal Church to their sorely tried communities, and to reiterate the need to foster dialogue, protect the rights of all people regardless of religious affiliation, and search for solutions that respect and further the common good.
In remarks to the gathered Cardinals at the opening of the session, Pope Francis decried the spirit of indifference that seems to dominate, making the sacrifice of the human person to other interests a matter of course. “This unfair situation,” he said, “requires an adequate response by the international community, as well as and in addition to our constant prayer.” He concluded his remarks, saying, “I am sure that, with the help of the Lord, genuinely worthwhile reflection and suggestions will emerge, in order to help our brothers and sisters who are suffering, and also to face the drama of the reduction of the Christian presence in the land where He was born and from which Christianity spread.”
Click below to hear our report
The centerpiece of the discussion that followed was an address by the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, in which he presented a summary view of the meeting of Apostolic Nuncios to the countries of the region that took place at the beginning of October. Articulated in six points, the speech stressed that the present situation – broadly speaking and in particular as it regards the Christian communities present in the region – is unacceptable. “Fundamental principles, such as the value of [human] life, human dignity, religious liberty, and peaceful coexistence among peoples and individuals are at stake.”
Cardinal Parolin’s address went on to describe the general political situation throughout the region as an extremely complex and multifaceted one, with specific references to the urgent need to achieve a just and lasting peace between Israel and Palestine, to the ongoing crises in Iraq and Syria (and to the roles of other regional powers in those conflicts, specifically Iran). It was in this context that Cardinal Parolin turned to the question of the use of force to halt aggression and to protect Christians and other groups who are victims of persecution. “In this regard,” said Cardinal Parolin, “It was stressed repeatedly that it is licit to stop the unjust aggressor – always, however, in a manner consistent with international law [It. nel rispetto del diritto internazionale ], as the Holy Father has also affirmed.” Cardinal Parolin went on to say, “In any case, we have seen clearly that the resolution of the problem cannot be entrusted only to a military response.” Speaking specifically of the threat posed by the self-styled Islamic State, Cardinal Parolin said, “Attention must be paid to the sources that sustain [the organization’s] terrorist activities through more-or-less clear political support, as well as through illegal commerce in oil and the supply of weapons and technology.” Cardinal Parolin then repeated the Holy Father’s denunciation of the arms trade, saying, “In a moment of particular gravity, given the growing number of victims caused by the conflicts raging in the Middle East, the international community cannot close its eyes before this question, which has profound ethical relevance.”
The flight of Christians from the region was another major focus of Cardinal Parolin’s remarks, recalling the fundamental role that Christians in the region play as, “artificers of peace, reconciliation, and development,” especially through their schools, orphanages, hospitals and other works of mercy, which serve anyone and everyone, regardless of race or creed.
The role of the Church – of Christians and of Christianity – in the complex social and cultural milieu of the Middle East, and especially in majority-Muslim nations, was the next major focal point. Cardinal Parolin reported that the participants in the meeting of Nuncios observed a basic problem. “[There is a] lack of separation between religion and State,” he said, “between the religious sphere and the civil sphere – a tie that makes life difficult for non-Muslim minorities and in particular for the Christian minority. It would be important, therefore, to contribute to efforts to nurture the notion of the distinction of these two spheres in the Muslim world.”
Cardinal Parolin went on to call on the international community not to remain inert or indifferent before the present situation. “In the specific case of violations and abuses committed by the so-called Islamic State, the international community, through the United Nations and the structures that exist for [addressing] similar emergencies, must act to prevent possible new genocides and to assist the numerous refugees.” Cardinal Parolin continued to explain, “The defense of Christians and of all the other religious or ethnic minorities is to be situated in the context of the defense of the person and of the respect for human rights, in particular for those of religious liberty and the freedom of conscience. In any case, the need to promote and develop the concept of citizenship, as a reference point for social life, guaranteeing the rights of minorities through adequate juridical instruments, has become evident.”
Cardinal Parolin’s address concluded with a reminder and an appeal: the Church throughout the world, and all Christians everywhere, have the duty to sustain our brothers and sisters in Christ with prayer and with every possible means, and to encourage them to continue to be a meaningful presence for the good of the whole society in the Middle East. “We must not forget,” he concluded, “that everything depends upon God and His Grace – but we need to act as though everything depends on us, upon our prayer and upon our solidarity. We are all called, therefore, to work for peace in the world, for the continuity and development of the presence of the Christian communities in the Middle East and for the common good of humanity.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) A Middle East without its Christians would be like a garden without flowers: that’s what Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Thomas Meram of Urmy?, Deputy President of the Iranian Bishops Conference, says about the persecution of Christians in the region. Jihadi militants like Islamic State (also known as ISIS or Daesh) in recent months have…
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