by Asia News
by Joseph Mahmoud
The Catholic bishops of Iraq met November 6 to 7 in their annual meeting in Ankawa (Erbil, Kurdistan). Over
two days, the bishops discussed various pastoral issues related to
their churches in the light of the situation experienced by Christians
in the country and in the rest of the Middle Eastern region. In the
meeting, the bishops discussed the application of the Apostolic
Exhortation " Ecclesia in Medio Oriente ", the themes of the Synod for
the New Evangelization and the Year of Faith launched by Pope Benedict
XVI last October 11. At the conclusion of the meeting the Iraqi prelates
have issued the following statement.
AsiaNews publishes the text sent
by Msgr. Louis Sako, Archbishop of Kirkuk and Secretary General of the
Assembly.
1 - The Catholic Bishops assembly calls on all political parties to
sit down together, away from the personal and confessional interests, to
negotiate through a courageous and sincere dialogue in order to find
solutions that respect the rights of all components and enforce the
harmonic co-existence and preserve diversity and pluralism that is a
feature of our country, certainly living e together is human completion
and a cultural spiritual, social fruitful interaction. This requires a
good political, free and renewable will. It requires also that the
religion should remains far away from the political conflictions.
Bombings, killings and destruction when it is in the name of religion,
it offend God and deform religion.
2 - It is sad to see that immigration is continuing which makes our
Christian existence more vulnerable and threatens it is future. The
Catholic Bishops assembly calls upon all Christians to be attached to
their homeland and to participate in its construction as their fathers.
The continuous involvement and perseverance at home Communication, is a
national and Christian. The Apostolic Exhortation " Ecclesia in Medio
Oriente " invites the children of Abraham:"Rather than being exploited
in endless conflicts which are unjustifiable for authentic believers,
the acknowledgment of one God - if lived with a pure heart - can make a
powerful contribution to peace in the region and to respectful
coexistence on the part of its peoples. " (No 19). Therefore The
Catholic Bishops hopes that living together continues in a more secure
just and human dignity conditions which may limit immigration and
encourage immigrants to return to their homes. The Catholic
Bishops assembly calls on the federal government and the Kurdistan
Regional Government to assume full responsibility for providing security
and stability and decent living for all components.
3 - Today the Catholic Bishops assembly is concerned on Syrian
sisters and brother's situation. The bishops express their solidarity
and prayer and hope that the requested reforms will be done through a
safe way, through a constructive dialogue and negotiations and not with
fighting and demolition. The civilized dialogue is a human and religious
basic manner to resolve problems. We pray for the soon return of
stability to our neighboring Syria.
4 - At the conclusion the Catholic Bishops assembly calls on the
faithful to stick to faith, hope and to pray for the return of peace and
stability to the country so that everyone can live in freedom, dignity
and joy.