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                                  VIS-Press releases   
      
   SYNOD FOR THE MIDDLE EAST TO BEGIN ON SUNDAY   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 8 OCT 2010 (VIS) - Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, secretary general   
   of the Synod of Bishops, today held a briefing in the Holy See Press Office to   
   inform journalists of the significance and of certain organisational aspects of   
   the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops, due to be   
   held in the Vatican from 10 to 24 October.   
      
   The theme of the forthcoming synodal assembly is: "The Catholic Church in the   
   Middle East. Communion and Witness. Now the company of those who believed were   
   of one heart and soul".   
      
   Archbishop Eterovic explained that "what we mean by Middle East, apart from   
   Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories, are the following sixteen States:   
   Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Iran, Iraq,   
   Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Syria, Turkey and Yemen. This vast region   
   of 7,180,912 square kilometres is home to 356,174,000 people, of whom 5,707,000   
   are Catholic, representing 1.6 percent of the population. The number of   
   Christians stands at about 20,000,000; that is, 5.62 percent of the   
   population".   
      
   "Apart from the Church of the Latin tradition, since earliest times there have   
   been six 'sui iuris' Eastern Catholic Churches, each with its own patriarch,   
   father and head of the Church: the Coptic Church, the Syrian Church, the   
   Greek-Melkite Church, the Maronite Church, the Chaldean Church and the Armenian   
   Church. ... The variety of traditions, spirituality, liturgy and disciplines is   
   a great treasure to be conserved not only for the Eastern Catholic Churches,   
   but for the whole Catholic Church presided over in charity by the Bishop of   
   Rome, Universal Pastor of the Church".   
      
   The Special Assembly for the Middle East, Archbishop Eterovic continued, will   
   be attended by 185 Synod Fathers including 101 ordinaries from the   
   ecclesiastical circumscriptions of the area, and twenty-three from the diaspora   
   who have responsibility for faithful of the Eastern Catholic Churches who have   
   emigrated from the Middle East to all corners of the world. Also present will   
   be thirty-six experts and thirty-four auditors, both men and women.   
      
   The sittings of the synodal assembly will also be attended by a number of   
   fraternal delegates representing fourteen Churches and ecclesial communities   
   with deep roots in the Middle East. The Synod Fathers will be addressed by   
   three special guests invited by the Holy Father: Rabbi David Rosen, director   
   for inter-religious affairs of the American Jewish Committee and the Heilbrunn   
   Institute for International Inter-religious Understanding, Israel; Muhammad   
   al-Sammak, political counsellor to the Grand Mufti of Lebanon, for Sunni Islam,   
   and Ayatollah Seyed Mostafa Mohaghegh Ahmadabadi, professor at the Faculty of   
   Law at the Shahid Beheshti University of Tehran and Member of the Iranian   
   Academy of Sciences, for Shia Islam.   
      
   The secretary general then went on to explain some specific characteristics of   
   this Synod. "For the first time", he said, "almost all the ordinaries of the   
   Middle East will meet with the Bishop of Rome"; moreover it "will be the   
   shortest ever synodal assembly, lasting only fourteen days". This, he   
   explained, "is the result of the relatively lower number of participants, which   
   during the Ordinary General Assemblies can include as many as 250 Synod   
   Fathers", and because the "complex situation in Middle Eastern countries means   
   we do not want to keep the pastors from their flocks for too long".   
      
   Arabic will be one of the official languages of this Synod, along with French,   
   English and Italian, said Archbishop Eterovic.   
      
   "The aims of the Special Assembly for the Middle East are mainly of a pastoral   
   nature" and can be divided into two main points: "reviving communion between   
   the venerable 'sui iuris' Eastern Catholic Churches that they may offer an   
   authentic, joyful and attractive witness of Christian life", and "strengthening   
   Christian identity through the Word of God and the celebration of the   
   Sacraments".   
      
   The Synod, the archbishop concluded, is "a joyous occasion to present the   
   riches of the Eastern Catholic Churches to the entire world, especially to   
   Christians, that they may offer greater spiritual and material support to their   
   brothers and sisters in the Middle East, in particular those who live in   
   difficult situations because of violence, terrorism, emigration and   
   discrimination".   
   SE/VIS 20101008 (700)   
      
   SUMMARY   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS =Meridian, MS= bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)