CWN - Stating that “your witness means much to me,” Pope Francis has written a letter to the Christians of the Middle East, “to encourage you and to let you know how precious your presence and your mission are in the land which the Lord has blessed.”
“I write to you just before Christmas, knowing that for many of you the music of your Christmas hymns will also be accompanied by tears and sighs,” the Pontiff said in his letter, which was dated December 21 and released by the Holy See Press Office on December 23.
The sufferings of the regions’ Christians “have been aggravated in the past months because of the continuing hostilities in the region, but especially because of the work of a newer and disturbing terrorist organization, of previously unimaginable dimensions, which has perpetrated all kinds of abuses and inhuman acts,” he continued. “It has particularly affected a number of you, who have been brutally driven out of your native lands, where Christians have been present since apostolic times.”
“Dear brothers and sisters who courageously bear witness to Jesus in the land blessed by the Lord, our consolation and our hope is Christ himself,” he added. “The situation in which are you living is a powerful summons to holiness of life, as saints and martyrs of every Christian community have attested. I think with affection and veneration of the pastors and faithful who have lately been killed, often merely for the fact that they were Christians.” Referring to the “ecumenism of blood,” the Pope said that “the sufferings which Christians endure contribute immensely to the cause of unity.” Discussing Islam, he said:
The majority of you live in environments which are predominantly Muslim. You can help your Muslim fellow citizens to present with discernment a more authentic image of Islam, as so many of them desire, reiterating that Islam is a religion of peace, one which is compatible with respect for human rights and favours peaceful coexistence on the part of all. This will prove beneficial for them and for all society. The tragic situation faced by our Christian brothers and sisters in Iraq, as well as by the Yazidi and members of other religious and ethnic communities, demands that all religious leaders clearly speak out to condemn these crimes unanimously and unambiguously, and to denounce the practice of invoking religion in order to justify them.
“May you always bear witness to Jesus amid your difficulties!” the Pope writes. “Your very presence is precious for the Middle East. You are a small flock, but one with a great responsibility in the land where Christianity was born and first spread. You are like leaven in the dough.”
The letter concluded with an exhortation to “the international community to address your needs and those of other suffering minorities, above all by promoting peace through negotiation and diplomacy, for the sake of stemming and stopping as soon as possible the violence which has already caused so much harm.”
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