In the Middle East, where there is the risk of “eliminating Christians”, there is a “great sin” that is that of war, conducted with sophisticated weapons, the “sin of the desire for power”, to which the “world powers” are not strangers to as they are not concerned with culture, the faith and life of those peoples but have the sole objective of “taking a piece and have more dominance”, causing large flows of emigrants to other Middle Eastern countries and Europe, and then there is also the sin of some “priests, some bishop, some religious congregation” who receive the “widows’ money” yet they live like the rich: The Pope said when speaking at the meeting of the Eastern Churches Aid Works (ROACO), for its fiftieth anniversary. “I would like - said Jorge Mario Bergoglio in an all impromptu speech - these Christian rich men, some bishop, some religious congregation to strip themselves more in favor of their brothers and sisters”.

“The Roaco is a very important thing: the Middle East today is a crossroads of difficult and painful situations. Even in the Middle East there is a risk, I do not mean the will of someone, to wipe out Christians. A Middle East without Christians... would not be the Middle East”, said Bergoglio, who then explained: “For Roaco’s 50th anniversary I wanted to read this speech to you, all of you have it in English, but as the concern for the Middle East is great, I will allow myself to say things as they come and deliver the speech to Cardinal Sandri so that you may all read it. So I will not bore you repeating things.

Today the Middle East, the Pope said, “is suffering, crying and the world powers are looking at it with concern not for the culture, the faith, the life of those people but to take a piece of it and have more power over it. All say Christians have been the first in the Middle East, we must respect them”, but the facts are not like that. The number of Christians is decreasing, I spoke the other day with Cardinal Zenari: it is decreasing. And many don’t want to return, because the pain is strong: they love their land, they love their faith but suffering is strong. And the Middle East is the cradle of Christianity, the land of Jesus. Your work to help the Middle East, to worry about the Middle East is very great, I thank you very much”.

“In the Middle East, there are the great ancient Churches, with their theology, their beautiful liturgies, their holy fathers, their spiritual teachers. This great tradition of the Middle East. We must guard this. We must fight for this: you are doing it and I thank you, because the juice that comes from the roots gives life to our soul. How many of us use for our spiritual life the doctrine of the Fathers of the East, of the ancient monks who teach us the way of contemplation and holiness?

“The Middle East is a land of migrations, one of the most serious problems in this moment of pain,” said Francis. Think that in Lebanon half are Lebanese and half Syrian, for it has welcomed so many Syrians. Think that in Jordan there is a large number of Syrians suffering, and even in Turkey. Then Europe... when I was in Lesbos there were many Syrians, many Christians and Muslims fleeing. And in Italy the same. It is a land of migration (towards) outside and also between the countries of the Middle East”.

“There is a great sin in the Middle East”, the Argentine Pontiff said: “Poor people suffer it, the sin of the desire for power, the sin of war. Each time stronger, stronger, even with sophisticated armaments. People are suffering, children are suffering, the Middle East today has only few schools, because the bombing destroys everything, (there are) few hospitals. This is the pain of the Middle East: it is the great sin of war.

“There is also our sin in the Middle East, our own”, the Pope then said: “It is a sin of inconsistency between life and faith. There are forces, not many but some, priests, some bishop, some religious congregation that professes poverty but live as rich. And the Roaco also receives the money of the widows, as the Cardinal Prefect said, as a symbol, the little that the humble have. But I would like these Christian rich priests, some bishop, some religious congregation to strip themselves more in favor of their brothers and sisters”.

“The Pope concluded: “The Lord will not leave us alone. That is why I say that the Middle East is a hope, a hope that we must cultivate. It is a mystique behind which we must work as you do. Thank you very much for all this: thank you”.

In his speech to the ROACO, the Pope expressed the hope that “ May the sons and daughters of the Oriental Catholic Churches cherish their prophetic charge to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus, even in settings that are often even more secularized than in the West, where they come as immigrants or refugees. May they find a welcome, both on the practical level and in the Church’s life, as they seek to preserve and enrich the patrimony of their various traditions.”

In his prepared speech, Francis also underlined that “The Oriental Catholic Churches, as living witnesses to their apostolic origins, are called in a special way to protect and pass on a spark of Pentecostal fire. They are called daily to discover anew their own prophetic presence in all those places where they dwell as pilgrims. Beginning with Jerusalem, the Holy City, whose identity and particular vocation needs to be safeguarded beyond different tensions and political disputes, Christians, even though present as a small flock, draw strength from the Spirit for their mission of witness. Today that mission is more urgent than ever before”.

The Roaco, headed by Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, has met from Tuesday 19 to today, for the 91st time, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its foundation. On 20 June, we read in a communiqué from the Congregation, some considerations were made on the situation of the Churches in the Middle East, with particular attention to Turkey, Syria, Iraq and the Holy Land, with the participation of the Pontifical representatives of Syria, Cardinal Mario Zenari, that of Turkey, Monsignor Paul Russell, that of Iraq and Jordan, Monsignor Alberto Ortega, as well as of Msgr. Segundo Tejado Muñoz, undersecretary of the Department for the Service of Integral Human Development and of the Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia Paolo Bizzeti.

The Vatican “Foreign Minister”, Monsignor Richard Gallagher, also spoke. For the Holy Land, the Apostolic Delegate to Jerusalem, Monsignor Leopoldo Girelli, the Custos Francesco Patton, the Vice Chancellor of Bethlehem University, Peter Bray, took part. The following day, entirely dedicated to the reflection on the theme “Diaspora in Europe due to immigration and the challenges for the pastoral care of the Eastern faithful in Europe”, Monsignor Dominicus Meier, auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Paderborn and coordinator for the pastoral care of the Eastern faithful in Germany, Monsignor Stephen Chirappanath, apostolic visitor for the Syro-Malabar faithful in Europe, spoke; Monsignor Josyf Milan, auxiliary and coordinator of the Ukrainian faithful in Diaspora; Monsignor Saad Sirop, apostolic visitor of the Chaldean Faithful in Europe; Monsignor Yuriy Kolasa, vicar general of the Byzantine Ordinariate in Austria, Abba Petros Berga, coordinator of the Ethiopian faithful in Central Europe, and again Jan Tombiński, ambassador of the European Union to the Holy See. Also present was Monsignor Silvano Maria Tomasi, member of the Department for Integral Development, who spoke on the theme of immigration.

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