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                                  VIS-Press releases   
      
   FOURTH GENERAL CONGREGATION   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 12 OCT 2010 (VIS) - The Fourth General Congregation of the   
   Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops was held this   
   afternoon in the Synod Hall. The president delegate on duty was His Beatitude   
   Ignace Youssif III Younan, Patriarch of Antioch of the Syrians, Lebanon, and   
   there were 161 Synod Fathers present. The Holy Father attended the free   
   discussions at the end of the sitting.   
      
   Extracts from some of the Synod Father's speeches are given below:   
      
   HIS BEATITUDE GREGOIRE III LAHAM B.S., PATRIARCH OF ANTIOCH OF THE GREEK-   
      
   MELKITES, SYRIA. "The Christian presence in the Arab world is threatened by the   
   cycles of war afflicting the region, the cradle of Christianity. The main   
   reason is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the fundamentalist movements, Hamas   
   and Hezbollah are consequences of this conflict as well of internal dissension,   
   slowness in development, the rise of hatred, the loss of hope in the young who   
   constitute sixty percent of the population in Arab countries. The emigration of   
   Christians is among the most dangerous effects of the Israeli-Palestinian   
   conflict: emigration which will make Arab society a society of only one colour,   
   Muslim, faced with a European society identified as Christian. Should this   
   happen, should the East be emptied of its Christians, this would mean that any   
   occasion would be propitious for a new clash of cultures, of civilisations and   
   even of religions, a destructive clash between the Muslim Arab East and the   
   Christian West".   
      
   CARDINAL JOHN PATRICK FOLEY, GRAND MASTER OF THE EQUESTRIAN ORDER OF THE   
      
   KNIGHTS OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE OF JERUSALEM. "While many, including the Holy   
   See, have suggested a two-State solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, the   
   more time passes, the more difficult such a solution becomes, as the building   
   of Israeli settlements and Israeli-controlled infrastructure in East Jerusalem   
   and in other parts of the West Bank make increasingly difficult the development   
   of a viable and integral Palestinian State. During the Holy Father's historic   
   pilgrimage to the Holy Land last year, I had the opportunity for brief   
   conversations with political leaders at the highest level in Jordan, Israel and   
   Palestine. All of them spoke of the great contribution to mutual understanding   
   made by Catholic schools in those three areas. Since Catholic schools are open   
   to all and not just to Catholics and to other Christians, many Muslim and even   
   some Jewish children are enrolled. The effects are apparent and inspiring.   
   Mutual respect is engendered, which we hope will lead to reconciliation and   
   even mutual love".   
      
   HIS BEATITUDE FOUAD TWAL, PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM OF THE LATINS. "The Mother   
   Church of Jerusalem ... watches over the Holy Places of the Patriarchs, the   
   Prophets, Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and the Apostles. ... The Mother Church   
   of Jerusalem must therefore be the object of love, prayer and attention from   
   all the Church, from all bishops, priests and faithful of the People of God. To   
   be united with the Church of Jerusalem, to live in the communion and witness   
   which this Synod speaks about, reveals our duties as shepherds and our   
   episcopal collegiality. To love the Holy Land implies visiting the Holy Places   
   and meeting with the local community. To love the Holy Land is also to serve   
   it: do not leave your Mother Church alone and isolated. Help her with your   
   prayers, your love and your solidarity, prevent her becoming a great open-air   
   museum. To be silent because of fear before the dramatic situation you all know   
   about would be a sin of omission. Also, we are very grateful to the Holy See,   
   to bishops, priests and all friends of the Holy Land for what they so   
   generously do to support us spiritually and materially. ... The Christian   
   community of the Holy Land (barely two percent of the population) is suffering   
   violence and instability. It is a Church of Calvary. She has the weighty   
   responsibility of perpetuating the message of peace and reconciliation. Despite   
   the difficulties that seem overwhelming, we believe in God, the Lord of   
   history".   
      
   ARCHBISHOP BASILE GEORGES CASMOUSSA OF MOSUL OF THE SYRIANS, IRAQ. " In our   
   Middle Eastern countries, we are small minorities, much ravaged by the   
   following factors: (1) Unbridled emigration. Christians are losing more and   
   more trust in their own historical countries. (2) Waves of terrorism inspired   
   by religious ideologies, Islamic or totalitarian, which deny even the principle   
   of equality to the advantage of a fundamentalist revisionism which crushes   
   minorities, including Christians who are the most vulnerable. (3) The alarming   
   decrease of births among Christians, faced with an ever growing natality among   
   Muslims. (4) The unjust accusation against Christians of being troops loaned or   
   led by and for the so-called Christian West, and thus considered as a parasite   
   in the nation. ... What is happening in Iraq today makes us think back to what   
   happened in Turkey during the World War I. It is alarming!"   
      
   BISHOP DIMITRIOS SALACHAS, APOSTOLIC EXARCH FOR GREEK CATHOLICS OF BYZANTINE   
      
   RITE RESIDENT IN GREECE. "The Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches enunciates   
   a general principle, according to which the faithful of the Eastern Church,   
   though entrusted ('commissi') to the pastoral care of a bishop or parish priest   
   of another 'sui iuris' Church, including the Latin Church, always remain   
   members of their own Church and must observe their own rite everywhere in the   
   world; i.e., their own liturgical and spiritual heritage, and their own laws.   
   ... The Supreme Legislator has provided the Catholic Church with two canonical   
   norms, two Codes, one for the Latin Church and one for the Eastern Church, the   
   latter of which has recently celebrated the twentieth anniversary of its   
   promulgation. Emigration creates urgent new pastoral needs which require   
   knowledge, even limited knowledge, of these norms. In other words, Eastern   
   bishops should know Latin legislation, and Latin bishops Eastern legislation.   
   Vatican Council II teaches that, maintaining the unity of the faith and the one   
   divine constitution of the universal Church, the Eastern Churches and the   
   Western Churches have the right and the duty to practice according to their own   
   discipline for the good of the souls of their faithful".   
      
   FR. JOSE RODRIGUEZ CARBALLO O.F.M., MINISTER GENERAL OF THE ORDER OF FRIARS   
      
   MINOR. "Faced with the tragic spectacle of so many conflicts in the Holy Land   
   and against the widespread idea that religions are the basis for them,   
   Christians are called to show the world that religions, authentically lived,   
   foster understanding between different peoples, serve peace, and mould the   
   hearts of the reconciled and the reconcilers. ... In the context of the new   
   evangelisation I would like to make four proposals: (1) To create a single   
   catechism for all Catholics in the Middle East. (2) To take concrete   
   initiatives for the formation of all pastoral workers (priests, religious and   
   laity), a formation appropriate to the needs of new evangelisation and the   
   particular situation of the Middle East. (3) In keeping with the Pauline Year,   
   to celebrate a year dedicated to St. John in all the Churches of the Middle   
   East, if possible with our brethren of the non-Catholic Churches. (4) To   
   enhance biblical studies, especially through the three Biblical Institutes   
   already present in Jerusalem: the Franciscan Faculty of Biblical Sciences and   
   Archaeology, the Dominican School of the Bible and Archaeology, and the Jesuit   
   Biblical Institute. Furthermore, I hope that, in the face of the steady decline   
   of Christians in the Holy Land, a word of comfort may emerge from this Synod   
   for the Christian and, in particular, Catholic, communities living in those   
   lands. The Synod is a good opportunity to forcefully strengthen ecumenical and   
   inter-religious dialogue".   
   SE/VIS 20101013 (1260)   
      
   SUMMARY   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS =Meridian, MS= bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)