By Crux
Catholic patriarchs from the Middle East invoked hope in their Easter messages to people suffering from terrorism, wars, displacement and economic hardship.
Catholic patriarchs from the Middle East invoked hope in their Easter messages to people suffering from terrorism, wars, displacement and economic hardship.
From Baghdad, Cardinal Louis Sako, patriarch of Chaldean Catholics,
emphasized “that our world, which is striving to manufacture all forms
of weapons, including weapons of mass destruction, is making wars and
thus creating death and destruction.”
Yet, Sako said, “Christ rose from the dead - Allelulia! - and Iraq must rise from its crises.”
“What we have lived through, and the blood of martyrs, all these lean
years, will inevitably find a harmonious way of living together in
peace.”
The Christian population in Iraq, numbering about 1.5 million before 2003, has dwindled to about 200,000.
Sako emphasized that the Church is “one family embracing all people”
and welcomes them as brothers and sisters without regard to their
religious and ethnic affiliations. He urged the faithful to pray for
peace, stability and harmony in Iraq and the region, and to pray for the
new government’s efforts “to bear fruit for the future of Iraqis.”
From the patriarchate in Lebanon, Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignace
Joseph III Younan noted that in the ancient tradition of the Syriac
rite, “we sing of peace as the first gift of the Resurrection.”
“How much we do need today peace and reconciliation among the peoples
of the Middle East,” said Younan, who had visited Baghdad early in Holy
Week.
“We have to recognize and repeat that stability and civilized laws in
this tormented region are the most urgent need for the survival of
Christians and other minorities,” he said.
In his Easter message, Younan thanked God for facilitating the return
of Catholics to villages and towns in Iraq’s Ninevah Plain. More than
100,000 Christians were driven from the region by the Islamic State in
the summer of 2014. Many families fled to the Kurdish region in northern
Iraq, where they remain or have emigrated.
Younan reminded the leaders of Iraq “to realize their grave
responsibility” to ensure the safety and protection of all citizens “who
courageously fulfill their duties, in the hope of living in a
reconciled, just and fair national society, without discrimination or
oppression.”
He also urged his flock who were uprooted “to return home and continue to witness to the Gospel of love and peace.“For all those who have endured exile, we ask the Lord to be their consolation and strength,” Younan added.
With regard to Syria, Younan thanked God “for the calm and stability in the great majority of its provinces and cities.”
“But we cannot ignore the hardship of living for the majority of
innocent common people in this … war-torn country,” the Syrian-born
prelate stressed.
The patriarch thanked Lebanon for hosting some 1.5 million Syrian
refugees, despite Lebanon’s economic difficulties and hardships.
He also reiterated the plea for the release of all those kidnapped in
Syria, especially the two archbishops of Aleppo, Syriac Orthodox
Metropolitan Gregorios Yohanna and Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Paul,
kidnapped in April 2013 in northern Syria.
From the patriarchate in Lebanon, Cardinal Bechara Rai, patriarch of
Maronite Catholics, prayed that “Easter would bring about the
resurrection of our country from its economic, financial and daily living crises, and
be a day of peace and stability in the countries of the Middle East,
especially in Palestine, Iraq and Syria.”
Rai also prayed for the return of all refugees to their homelands,
“to preserve their identity, culture and civilization,” as well as to
relieve Lebanon of its economic, development and labor force burdens.