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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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CWNews.com - The Synod of Bishops for the Middle East is nearing its conclusion, with votes scheduled tomorrow—Saturday, October 23—on the final propositions to be presented to Pope Benedict XVI.
The Synod’s delegated leaders—the relator general and the reporters for each of the smaller discussion groups—met on Friday morning, October 22, to go over amendments that were suggested from the floor when the propositions were introduced at a plenary session. With the amendments incorporated, the final list of propositions will be submitted to a vote on Saturday.
The Synod’s propositions are submitted to the Pope, for use in the apostolic exhortation with which he will conclude the work of the Synod. Traditionally these propositions are not made public, since they are intended for the Pope’s consideration. In the past, however, Pope Benedict has authorized their publication.
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CWNews.com - Two Lebanese Catholic prelates questioned the feasibility of dialogue with Islam during discussions on October 21 at the Synod of Bishops.
Commenting on propositions advocating inter-religious dialogue, Syrian Catholic Bishop Flavien Joseph Melki of Dara, Lebanon questioned whether the suggestions were realistic:
Is it even thinkable that the Arabic countries of the Middle East, where fundamentalism is becoming more entrenched, will accept in the near future abandoning their theocratic regimes founded on the Koran and the Sharia, which constitute flagrant discrimination towards non-Muslims? To me this seems to be in the domain of utopia, for the centuries to come.
Archbishop Raboula Antoine Beylouni, also a Syrian-Catholic prelate from Lebanon, raised similar questions. Because the Muslim believes that the Qu’ran offers the absolute and complete truth, the archbishop said, “he comes to dialogue with a sense of superiority.” More ominously, he continued, the Qu’ran “commands the imposition of religion through force—with the sword.” As a result, the archbishop said, Muslims are unlikely to recognize religious freedom.
Archbishop Beylouni offered a practical suggestion for efforts at dialogue with Islam. Because the Qu’ran treats the Virgin Mary with great reverence, he said, “we should turn to her for all dialogue and all encounters with the Muslims.” He concluded his remarks with a reference to one very significant inter-faith agreement in his own country: “If it pleased God that the Feast of the Annunciation was declared a national feast day in Lebanon for Christians and Muslims, may it also become a national feast day in other Arab countries.”
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CWNews.com - The Shi’ite Islamic leader who addressed the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East has said that Muslims in Iran are free to embrace the Christian faith, despite strict Islamic law that prescribes death as the penalty for forsaking Islam.
In an interview published by the National Catholic Register, Ayatollah Seyed Mostafa Mohaghegh Ahmadabadi responds to questions about conversion by insisting on a distinction between accepting one faith and propagandizing against others. When pressed about the possibility of that Muslim would be allowed to embrace Christianity, he replies:
Yes, nobody can ask someone else what their religion is. This is forbidden. But if they make propaganda against any religion including Islam, then that’s not allowed.The Shi’ite cleric’s answer does not address the question of what might happen when the hypothetical convert wishes to make a public profession of Christian faith, or engage in public worship at a Christian church.
In his address to the Synod, Ahmadabadi sketched a positive picture of the life of Christians in Iran today.
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CWNews.com - Pope Benedict XVI podded the government of Romania to ensure equal justice for all religions, during an October 21 meeting with the nation’s new ambassador to the Holy See, Bogdan T?taru-Cazaban.
Eastern-rite Romanian Catholics and their Orthodox counterparts have been in disputes for years over the possession and use of church properties that were seized from Catholics by the Communist government and turned over to Orthodox parishes. The Romanian Catholic Church endured brutal persecution during the Stalinist era, and today Catholics continue to press for compensation for the churches that were confiscated.
Pope Benedict raised the issue indirectly, speaking first about Romania’s liberation from Communist rule. He remarked that "so many years passed under the yoke of a totalitarian ideology leave deep scars in people's mentality,” creating challenges for the government as it strives to establish a new democracy. The Pontiff said that the Romanian people must now resist the lure of materialism and other “false ideologies,” promoting the common good and “making good use of your freedom.” In that context, the Pope said that “injustices inherited from the past should be repaired without being afraid of doing justice.” He spoke more directly about Catholic-Orthodox conflicts, saying that a mixed commission set up in 1998 to mediate disputes about parish property “must be reactivated.”
Citing the advances that have been made in ecumenical affairs—particularly since the visit to Romania by Pope John Paul II-- the Holy Father said: “Commitment to dialogue in charity and truth must be strengthened and joint initiatives promoted.”
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The propositions—developed by the relator general in consultation with the appointed representatives of the different language groups—will now be discussed, debated, and amended as necessary to gain the approval of the Synod. As the meeting moves toward its conclusion this weekend, the participants will vote on the propositions and finally present them to the Pope as the basis for his apostolic exhortation on the Middle East.
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CWNews.com - A representative of Egypt’s largest Christian church, invited to address the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, said that the meeting may come too late to stem the exodus of Christians from the region. A Coptic Orthodox bishop spoke of the “martyrdom, marginalization, and the feeling of being non-native citizens” that afflict Christians in Egypt, and impel many ambitious young Christians to seek a better life elsewhere.
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