The greatness of the
traditions of the East, along with the current suffering of the peoples
of the region (the Israeli occupation, the war in Iraq, terrorism,
migration, ...), the hope to build a society where
there is no anti-Semitism, anti-Christianity, Islamophobia, and where
Christians, Muslims and Jews are citizens of equal rights and standing,
the appeal to the international community to ensure peace to the
Palestinians, Israelis, Lebanese, Iraqis, and the comfort of faith and
unity of the Church, along with other Christian
denominations: these are some of the many themes in the Message to the
People of God (Nuntius) that participants in the Synod of the Churches
of the Middle East adopted at the Assembly.
Here is the text in full:
“Now the company of those who believed” (Acts 4:32) were of one heart and soul
To our brother priests, deacons, monks, nuns, consecrated persons, our dear lay faithful and all people of good will.
Introduction
1.May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you.
The Synod of Bishops for the Middle East was for us a new
Pentecost. “Pentecost is the original event but also a permanent
dynamism, and the Synod of Bishops is a privileged moment in which the
grace of Pentecost may be renewed in the Church’s journey” (Pope
Benedict XVI, Homily at the Opening Liturgy, 10 October 2010).
We have come to Rome, We the Patriarchs and Bishops of the
Catholic Churches in the Middle East with all our spiritual, liturgical,
cultural and canonical patrimonies, carrying in our hearts the concerns
of our people.
For the very first time, we have come together in a Synod,
gathered around His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, with both cardinals and
archbishops, who are heads of the various offices in the Roman Curia,
presidents of episcopal conferences around the world, who are concerned
with the issues of the Middle East, representatives from the Orthodox
Churches and ecclesial communities and Jewish and Muslim guests.
We express our gratitude to His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI for
his care and for his teachings, which guide the journey of the Church
in general and that of our Eastern Churches in particular, especially in
the areas of justice and peace. We thank the episcopal conferences for
their solidarity, their presence in our midst during their pilgrimages
to the holy sites and their visits to our communities. We thank them for
guiding our Churches in the various aspects of our life. We thank the
different ecclesial organisations for their effective assistance.
Guided by the Holy Scriptures and the living Tradition, we have
reflected together on the present and the future of Christians and all
peoples of the Middle East. We have meditated on the issues of this
region of the world which God willed, in the mystery of his love, to be
the birthplace of his universal plan of salvation. From there, Abraham’s
vocation was initiated.
There, the Word of God, Jesus Christ, took
flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit.
There, Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of life and the kingdom. There, he
died to redeem humanity and free us from sin. There, he rose from the
dead to give new life to all.
There, the Church was formed and went
forth to proclaim the Gospel of Christ to the world.
The primary aim of the Synod is pastoral. Thus, we have carried
in our hearts the life, the pains and the hopes of our people as well
as the challenges they need to confront each day “because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rm
5:5). Dear sisters and brothers, we therefore address this message to
you. We wish it to be an appeal to safeguard the faith, based on the
Word of God, to collaboration in unity and to communion in the witness
of love in every aspect of life.
I. The Church in the Middle East: Communion and Witness throughout History the Journey of Faith in the Middle East
2. In the Middle East, the first Christian community was born.
From there, the apostles after Pentecost went evangelising the whole
world. There, the early Christian community lived amid tensions and
persecutions, “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts
2:42), and no one of them was in need. There, the first martyrs, with
their blood, fortified the foundations of the nascent Church. After
them, the hermits filled the deserts with the perfume of their holiness
and their faith. There, the Fathers of the Eastern Church lived and
continued to nourish the Church in both the East and West through their
teachings. In the early centuries and later, missionaries from our
Churches departed for the Far East and the West, bringing with them the
light of Christ. We are the heirs of that heritage. We need to continue
to transmit their message to future generations.
In the past, Our Churches provided saints, priests and
consecrated persons; they still do in the present. Our Churches have
also sponsored many institutions which contributed - and still do - to
the well being of our societies and countries, sacrificing self for the
sake of the human person, who is created to the image of God and is the
bearer of his likeness. Some of our Churches continue to send out
missionaries who carry the Word of God to many places in the world. The
pastoral, apostolic and missionary needs mandate us to put together a
pastoral master-plan to promote vocations to the priesthood and
religious life in order to ensure the Church of tomorrow.
We are now at a turning point in our history: The God who has
given us the faith in our Eastern lands 2000 years ago, calls us today
to persevere with courage, strength and steadfastness in bearing the
message of Christ and witnessing to his Gospel, the Gospel of love and
peace.
Challenges and Aspirations
3.1. Today, we face many challenges. The first comes from
within ourselves and our Churches. We are asked by Christ to accept our
faith and to apply it to all situations in our lives. What he asks from
our Churches is to strengthen the communion within every Church sui iuris
and that of the Catholic Churches of various traditions, and to exert
every effort in prayer and charitable acts in order to attain the full
unity of all Christians so as to fulfil the prayer of Christ: “that
they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that
they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent
me” (Jn 17:21).
3.2. The second challenge comes from the outside, namely,
political conditions, security in our countries and religious pluralism.
We have evaluated the social situation and the public security
in all our countries in the Middle East. We have taken account of the
impact of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the whole region,
especially on the Palestinians who are suffering the consequences of the
Israeli occupation: the lack of freedom of movement, the wall of
separation and the military checkpoints, the political prisoners, the
demolition of homes, the disturbance of socio-economic life and the
thousands of refugees. We have reflected on the suffering and insecurity
in which Israelis live. We have meditated on the situation of the holy
city of Jerusalem. We are anxious about the unilateral initiatives that
threaten its composition and risk to change its demographic balance.
With all this in mind, we see that a just and lasting peace is the only
salvation for everyone and for the good of the region and its peoples.
3.3. We have reflected in our meetings and in our prayers the
keen sufferings of the Iraqi people. We have recalled the Christians
assassinated in Iraq, the continued suffering of the Church in Iraq and
her sons who have been displaced and dispersed throughout the world,
bringing with them the concerns for their land and their fatherland. The
synod fathers have expressed their solidarity with the people and the
Churches in Iraq and have expressed their desire that the emigrants,
forced to leave their country, might find in the welcoming countries the
necessary support to be able to return to their homeland and live in
security.
3.4. We have extensively treated relations between Christians
and Muslims. All of us share a common citizenship in our countries. Here
we want to affirm, according to our Christian vision, a fundamental
principle which ought to govern our relations, namely, God wants us to
be Christians in and for our Middle Eastern societies. This is God’s
plan for us. This is our mission and vocation - to live as Christians
and Muslims together. Our actions in this area will be guided by the
commandment of love and by the power of the Spirit within us.
The second principle which governs our relations is the fact
that we are an integral part of our societies. Our mission, based on our
faith and our duty to our home countries, obliges us to contribute to
the construction of our countries as fellow-citizens, Muslims, Jews and
Christians alike.
II. Communion and Witness Within the Catholic Churches of the Middle East
To the Faithful of Our Churches
4.1. Jesus says to us: “You are the salt of the earth, the light of the world” (Mt
5:13.14). Your mission in our societies, beloved faithful, through
faith, hope and love, is to be like “salt” which gives savour and
meaning to life; to be like “light” by proclaiming the truth which
scatters the darkness; and to be like the “leaven” which transforms
hearts and minds. The first Christians of Jerusalem were few in number,
yet they were able to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth because
of the grace of “the Lord who acted with them and confirmed their Word by signs” (Mk 16:20).
4.2. We want to greet you, Christians of the Middle East, and
we thank you for all you have achieved in your families and societies,
in your Churches and nations. We commend you for your perseverance in
times of adversity, suffering and anguish.
4.3. Dear priests, our co-workers in the mission of catechesis,
liturgy and pastoral work, we renew our friendship and our trust in
you. Continue to transmit to your faithful with zeal and perseverance
the Gospel of life and Church’s tradition through your preaching,
catechesis, spiritual direction and the good example of your lives.
Build up the faith of the People of God to make of it a civilisation of
love. Provide the sacraments to the People of God so that this People
might aspire to be renewed. Gather them together in the union of love by
the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Dear consecrated men and women in the world, we express to you
our gratitude and with you we thank God for the gift of the evangelical
counsels – of consecrated chastity, of poverty and obedience – through
which you have made the gift of yourselves as you follow Christ, the
special love to whom you long to witness. It is thanks to your diverse
apostolic initiatives that you are the true treasure and wealth of our
Churches and a spiritual oasis in our parishes, dioceses and missions.
We unite ourselves spiritually to hermits, to monks and nuns
who have dedicated their lives to prayer in contemplative monasteries,
sanctifying the hours of day and night, carrying the Church’s concerns
and needs to God in their prayers. You offer the world a sign of hope
through the witness of your life.
4.4. We express to you, faithful lay people, our esteem and our
friendship. We appreciate everything you do for your families and
societies, your Churches and home countries. Remain steadfast amidst
trials and difficulties. We are filled with gratitude to the Lord for
the charisms and talents which he has showered you and which equip you
to participate, through the power of your baptism and chrismations, in
the Church’s mission and her apostolic work to permeate the temporal
world with the spirit and values of the Gospel. We invite you to give
the witness of an authentic Christian life, of a conscientious religious
practice and of good morals. Have the courage objectively to proclaim
the truth.
Those of you who suffer in body, in soul and spirit, the
oppressed, those forced from your homes, the persecuted, prisoners and
detainees, we carry you all in our prayers. Unite your suffering to that
of Christ the Redeemer and seek in his cross patience and strength. By
the merit of your sufferings, you gain God’s merciful love.
We greet each of our Christian families and we look upon your
vocation and mission with esteem as a living cell of society and a
natural school of virtue and ethical and human values, the “domestic
Church” which transmits the practices of prayer and of faith from one
generation to the next. We thank parents and grandparents for the
education of their children and grandchildren, who, like Jesus grow “in wisdom, in stature and grace in the sight of God and men” (Lk
2:52). We commit ourselves to the defence of the family through our
pastoral programmes on its behalf, through marriage preparation courses
and centres, open to all but mainly to couples in difficulty, where they
can be welcomed and obtain counseling, and by defending the fundamental
rights of the family.
We now wish to speak to the women of our Churches in a special
way. We express to you our appreciation for what you are in the various
states of life: girls, mothers, educators, consecrated women and those
who engaged in public life. We revere you, because you harbour human
life within you from its very beginnings, giving it care and tenderness.
God has given you a special sensitivity for everything that pertains to
education, humanitarian work and the apostolic life. We give thanks to
God for your activities and we hope that you will be able to exercise
greater responsibility in public life.
Young women and men, we look to you with the same love which Christ had for the young man in the Gospel (cf. Mk
10:21). You are the potential and renewing force for the future of our
Churches, our communities and our countries. Plan your life under the
loving gaze of Christ. Be responsible citizens and sincere believers.
The Church joins you in your desire to find work commensurate with your
talents, work which will help to stimulate your creativity, providing
for your future and making possible the formation of a family of
believers. Overcome the temptation of materialism and consumerism. Be
strong in your Christian values.
We greet the heads of Catholic institutions of education.
Pursue excellence and the Christian spirit in your teaching and
education. Aim at the consolidation of a culture of harmonious living
and concern for the poor and disabled. In spite of the challenges which
confront your institutions, we invite you to maintain them, so as to
further the Church’s educative mission and to promote the development
and common good of our societies.
We address with great esteem those who work in the social
sector. In your institutions you are at the service of charity. We
encourage and support you in this mission of development, guided by the
rich social teaching of the Church. Through your work, you strengthen
the bonds of fellowship between people and serve the poor, the
marginalised, the sick, refugees and prisoners without discrimination.
You are guided by the words of the Lord Jesus: “Everything you do to one of these little ones, you do it to me!” (Mt 25:40).
We look with hope to prayer groups and apostolic movements.
They are schools where our faith can mature and we can be given the
strength to live that faith in family and society. We appreciate their
activities in parishes and dioceses and their support for pastors, in
accordance with the Church’s directives. We thank God for these groups
and movements which are active cells in the parish and seed-beds for
vocations to both the priesthood and the consecrated life.
We appreciate the role of the means of social communication,
both printed and audio-visual. We thank you journalists for your
collaboration with the Church in broadcasting her teachings and
activities and, over the course of these days, for having given global
news coverage to the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod.
We are pleased with the contribution of the media, both international and Catholic. With regard to the Middle East, Télé Lumiere-Noursat
merits a special mention. We hope it will be able to continue its
service of providing information and forming the faith, of working on
behalf of Christian unity, of consolidating the Christian presence in
the Middle East, of strengthening interreligious dialogue and the
communion of all peoples of Middle Eastern origin, presently in every
part of the globe.
To Our Faithful in the Diaspora
5. Emigration has become a generalised phenomenon by
Christians, Muslims and Jews alike. All emigrate for reasons arising
from political and economic instability. However, Christians also
emigrate from a sense of insecurity, in varying degrees, in many Middle
Eastern countries. May Christians have trust in the future and continue
to live in their dear countries.
We send our greetings to you, members of our Churches in the
various countries of the Diaspora. We ask you to keep alive in your
hearts and concerns the memory of your countries and your Churches. You
can contribute to their development and their growth by your prayers,
your thoughts, your visits and by various other means, despite the fact
that you are far from the Middle East.
Look at your goods and your properties in your home country; do
not abandon and sell them too quickly. Keep them as your patrimony and
as a piece of the homeland to which you remain attached, a homeland
which you love and support. The land is part of a person's identity and
his mission. It is a vital aspect of the lives of those who remain there
and for those who one day will return there. The land is a public good,
a good of the community and a common patrimony. It should not be
reduced to a question of individual interests on the part of those who
own it and who alone decide, according to their desires, to keep or
abandon it.
We accompany you with our prayers, you the children of our
Churches and of our countries, forced to emigrate. Bear with you your
faith, your culture and your patrimony, so as to enrich your new
countries which provide you with peace, freedom and work. Look towards
the future with confidence and joy. Hold fast to your spiritual values,
to your cultural traditions and to your national patrimony, in order to
offer to the countries which welcome you the best of yourselves and the
best of that which you have. We thank the Churches of the countries of
the Diaspora which have received our faithful and unceasingly
collaborate with us to ensure the necessary pastoral services for them.
To the Migrants in Our Countries and Our Churches
6. We send our greetings to all immigrants of varying nationalities, who have come to our countries seeking employment.
We welcome you, beloved faithful, and we see your faith as a
source of enrichment and a support for the faithful of our Churches. We
joyously provide you with every spiritual assistance you might need.
We ask our Churches to pay special attention to these brothers
and sisters and their difficulties, whatever may be their religion,
especially when their rights and dignity are subject to abuse. They come
to us not simply to seek the means for living but offer the services
which our countries need. Their dignity comes from God. Like every human
person, they have rights which must be respected. No one should violate
those rights. That is why we call upon the various governments which
receive them to respect and defend their rights.
Communion and Witness Together with the Orthodox and Protestant Communities in the Middle East
7. We send our greetings to the Orthodox and Protestant
Communities in our countries. Together we work for the good of all
Christians, that they may remain, grow and prosper. We share the same
journey. Our challenges are the same and our future is the same. We wish
to bear witness together as disciples of Christ. Only through our unity
can we accomplish the mission that God has entrusted to us, despite the
differences among our Churches. The prayer of Christ is our support;
the commandment of love unites us, even if the road towards full
communion is still distant for us.
We have walked together in the Middle East Council of Churches
and we wish, with God’s grace, to continue on this path and to promote
its activity, having as an ultimate goal a common testimony to our
faith, the service of our faithful and of all our countries. We
acknowledge and encourage all initiatives for ecumenical dialogue in
each of our countries.
We express our gratitude to the World Council of Churches and
to the different ecumenical organisations which work for the unity of
the Churches and for their support.
IV. Cooperation and Dialogue with Our Fellow-Citizens, the Jews
8. The same Scriptures unite us; the Old Testament, the Word of
God is for both you and us. We believe all that God revealed there,
since he called Abraham, our common father in the faith, Father of Jews,
of Christians and of Muslims. We believe in the promises of God and his
covenant given to Abraham and to you. We believe that the Word of God
is eternal.
The Second Vatican Council published the document Nostra aetate
which treats interreligious dialogue with Judaism, Islam and the other
religions. Other documents have subsequently clarified and developed the
relationship with Judaism. On-going dialogue is taking place between
the Church and the representatives of Judaism. We hope that this
dialogue can bring us to work together to press those in authority to
put and end to the political conflict which results in separating us and
disrupting everyday life in our countries.
It is time for us to commit ourselves together to a sincere,
just and permanent peace. Both Christians and Jews are called to this
task by the Word of God. In his Word, we are invited us to listen to the
voice of God “who speaks of peace”: “Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his holy ones” (Ps
85:9). Recourse to theological and biblical positions which use the
Word of God to wrongly justify injustices is not acceptable. On the
contrary, recourse to religion must lead every person to see the face of
God in others and to treat them according to their God-given
prerogatives and God’s commandments, namely, according to God's
bountiful goodness, mercy, justice and love for us.
V. Cooperation and Dialogue with Our Fellow-Citizens, the Muslims
9. We are united by the faith in one God and by the commandment
that says: do good and avoid evil. The words of the Second Vatican
Council on the relations with other religions offer the basis for the
relationship between the Catholic Church and the Muslims: “The Church
regards with esteem also the Muslims. They adore the one God, living and
subsisting in Himself; merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of
heaven and earth, who has spoken to men” (Nostra aetate 3).
We say to our Muslim fellow-citizens: we are brothers and
sisters; God wishes us to be together, united by one faith in God and by
the dual commandment of love of God and neighbour. Together we will
construct our civil societies on the basis of citizenship, religious
freedom and freedom of conscience. Together we will work for the
promotion of justice, peace, the rights of persons and the values of
life and of the family. The construction of our countries is our common
responsibility. We wish to offer to the East and to the West a model of
coexistence between different religions and of positive collaboration
between different civilisations for the good of our countries and that
of all humanity.
Since the appearance of Islam in the seventh century and to the
present, we have lived together and we have collaborated in the
creation of our common civilisation. As in the past and still existent
today, some imbalances are present in our relations. Through dialogue we
must avoid all imbalances and misunderstandings. Pope Benedict XVI
tells us that our dialogue must not be a passing reality. It is rather a
vital necessity on which our future depends (Pope Benedict XVI, Meeting with Representatives from the Muslim Communities,
Cologne, 20 August 2005). Our duty then is to educate believers
concerning interreligious dialogue, the acceptance of pluralism and
mutual esteem.
VI. Our Participation in Public Life: An Appeal to the Governments and to the Political Leadership in Our Countries
10. We appreciate the efforts which have been expended for the
common good and the service to our societies. You are in our prayers and
we ask God to guide your steps. We address you regarding the importance
of equality among all citizens. Christians are original and authentic
citizens who are loyal to their fatherland and assume their duties
towards their country. It is natural that they should enjoy all the
rights of citizenship, freedom of conscience, freedom of worship and
freedom in education, teaching and the use of the mass media.
We appeal to you to redouble your efforts to establish a just
and lasting peace throughout the region and to stop the arms race, which
will lead to security and economic prosperity and stop the hemorrhage
of emigration which empties our countries of its vital forces. Peace is a
precious gift entrusted by God to human family, whose members are to be
“peacemakers who will be called children of God” (Mt 5:9).
VII. Appeal to the International Community
11. The citizens of the countries of the Middle East call upon
the international community, particularly the United Nations
conscientiously to work to find a peaceful, just and definitive solution
in the region, through the application of the Security Council’s
resolutions and taking the necessary legal steps to put an end to the
occupation of the different Arab territories.
The Palestinian people will thus have an independent and
sovereign homeland where they can live with dignity and security. The
State of Israel will be able to enjoy peace and security within their
internationally recognized borders. The Holy City of Jerusalem will be
able to acquire its proper status, which respects its particular
character, its holiness and the religious patrimony of the three
religions: Jewish, Christian and Muslim. We hope that the
two-State-solution might become a reality and not a dream only.
Iraq will be able to put an end to the consequences of its
deadly war and re-establish a secure way of life which will protect all
its citizens with all their social structures, both religious and
national.
Lebanon will be able to enjoy sovereignty over its entire
territory, strengthen its national unity and carry on in its vocation to
be the model of coexistence between Christians and Muslims, of dialogue
between different cultures and religions, and of the promotion of basic
public freedoms.
We condemn violence and terrorism from wherever it may proceed
as well as all religious extremism. We condemn all forms of racism,
anti-Semitism, anti-Christianism and Islamophobia and we call upon the
religions to assume their responsibility to promote dialogue between
cultures and civilisations in our region and in the entire world.
Conclusion: Continue to Bear Witness to the Divine Path That Has Been Shown to Us in the Person of Jesus
12. Brothers and sisters, in closing, we say with the St. John the Apostle: “What
was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our
eyes, what we looked upon and touched with our hands concerns the Word
of life for the life was made visible; we have seen it and testify to it
and proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was
made visible to us what we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you,
so that you too may have fellowship with us; for our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”(1 Jn 1:1-3).
This Divine Life which has appeared to the apostles over 2000
years ago in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ and to which the Church
has witnessed throughout the course of her history will always remain
the life of our Churches in the Middle East and the object of our
witness, sustained by the promise of the Lord:“Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the time” (Mt 28:20). Together we proceed on our journey with hope,“and
hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out
into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rm 5:5).
We confess that, until now, we have not done what is possible
to better live communion in our communities. We have not done enough to
better live communion among our communities. We have not done everything
possible to confirm you in your faith and to give you the spiritual
nourishment you need in your difficulties. The Lord invites us to a
conversion as individuals and communities.
Today we return to you full of hope, strength and resolution,
bearing with us the message of the Synod and its recommendations in
order to study them together and to put them into practice in our
Churches, each one according to the Church’s states of life. We hope
also that this new effort might be ecumenical.
We make a humble and sincere appeal to you, that together we
might embark on the road of conversion, allowing ourselves to be renewed
through the grace of the Holy Spirit and again draw close to God.
To the Most Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church and Queen of
Peace, under whose protection we have accomplished our Synodal task, we
entrust our journey towards new, Christian horizons in the faith of
Christ and through the power of his word: “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5).
SIC: AN/INT'L