2014-09-10 12:15:00

Summit promotes solidarity among Middle East Christians


(Vatican Radio) Christian leaders from throughout the Middle East are gathered in Washington D.C. for the Inaugural Summit of the “In Defense of Christians” Association.

The primary purpose of the Summit is “to bring all members of the Diaspora together in a newfound sense of unity. Whether Orthodox or Catholic; Evangelical, Coptic or Maronite; Syriac, Lebanese, Chaldean or Assyrian – all Middle Eastern Christians will be called on to join together in solidarity.”

Present at the gathering are human rights experts, public officials, representatives in public office, policy makers, diplomats, and representatives from across the Middle Eastern Christian Diaspora — including Patriarchs, Bishops, and leaders of the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as Patriarchs and heads of other Eastern Christian churches.

Listen to Christopher Wells' report: 

In an address to the assembled leaders, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, the Prefect for the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, said, “News and images of the terrible events in the Middle East — and especially in Iraq and Syria, not to forget Africa, starting with Nigeria — reach us every day." In addition to the forms of violence and cruelty already denounced by the Council for Interreligious Dialogue, including massacres, beheadings, and forced exile, Cardinal Sandri denounced “the barbaric indoctrination of children.” For all these reasons, he said, “let us renew the request that all direct or indirect political, economic and military support of ISIS be explicitly rejected.” He also called for an end to the “complicity of a widespread silence that is enveloping the conflict in Syria.”

Nonetheless, Cardinal Sandri rejected the idea of a “clash of civilizations,” an “act of war between Islam and Christianity.” The conflict, he said, is not between a “foreign” Christian culture and a native Islamic Arabic culture; but is rather an attack on “the clear reality of a respectful and useful coexistence.” He said, too, “it is impossible above all to quell doubts about how the vast economic interests at stake affect the conflict. “In practice, it is the culture of waste, often denounced by the Pope, that dominates: in the face of personal economic interests, in the face of one’s own idea, the other person with his or her own life and inviolable dignity becomes secondary and can even be annihilated, or at least not taken into account.” On the contrary, he said, “the other person is a human being ab origine and not because the state, the Constitution, or any other group must recognize him as such.”

Repeating the position of the Holy See, Cardinal Sandri said, “Therefore we must insist that it should be the United Nations in New York, to become increasingly and transparently the place where decisions are made in which all peoples not only proclaim but also defend in practice with adequate resolutions and actions the dignity of the Christians in the Middle East, together with those who belong to every other minority.”

Cardinal Sandri noted in particular the Christians of Niniveh, known today as Mosul: “Let us forcefully repeat with our brothers and sisters that their return to that city and to their lands must be guaranteed, on pain of the dissolution of a society that was capable of reciprocal coexistence for centuries.” He said, though, that while “the unjust assailant must be halted” the use of force should not be considered as the only option. Any response to unjust aggression, he said, must take place “within the framework of an international agreement under the aegis of the United Nations involving Arab and Muslim countries.”

Concluding his address, Cardinal Sandri recalled the figure of Jonah, revered as a prophet by Christians, Muslims and Jews. “Just as Jonah was sent in order that the hearts of the people of Niniveh might once again return to the Lord, let us do all we can to ensure that the mind – dimmed by violent action in the name of a god who would thus in his turn appear violent, as well as irrational – may succeed in making people understand that every form of violence is in opposition to God’s nature and to the nature of the human soul.” Only “when people understand that God’s glory cannot be separated from human life,” will “righteousness and justice… kiss each other,” in the words of the Psalm. 








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