News

CWN - Maronite Catholic Patriarch Bechara Rai expressed concern about “deficiencies in the pastoral and spiritual formation of priests,” in his address to the Synod of Maronite bishops last week.

The Lebanese prelate saw “a significant drop in the level of scientific and theological competence” among his priests, and consequently a “slacking off in the theological, dogmatic, and moral teaching” of the Maronite community. He observed that too many priests are offering opinions—sometimes online, without proper authorization—that do not correspond to Church teachings, and are consequently “scandalizing the faithful.”

The Maronite Patriarch also voiced his concern about the incidence of marital breakdown. “Our courts are allowing annulments for psychological reasons all too easily,” he said. Rather than accepting the collapse of marriages, he said, the Church should seek out new ways to defend marital unions through “intensive pastoral care, and the creation of centers for marriage preparation and centers for counseling and reconciliation.”

References:

• Lebanese cardinal's scathing criticism of his Church (La Croix))

CWN - The number of Christians living in Syria and Iraq has been cut in half—and perhaps significantly further—since the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011, according to a new report.

The report by Open Doors and Middle East Concern finds that Syria’s Christian population, which stood at 2 million before the civil war, is now perhaps 1 million. In Iraq, where an offensive by the Islamic State drove Christians out of the Nineveh Valley, at least 100,000 have fled the country. Of course who remain, many are now displaced; some are considering a return to their homes now that the Iraqi government has regained control of the Nineveh Valley.

References:

• ‘Roughly Half’ of Iraqi, Syrian Christians Have Fled Middle East Since 2011, Report Says (Pravmir)

CWN - In a speech to Latin American ambassadors to Russia, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow emphasized the ties that bind Russian Orthodox Christians to Christians in Latin America.

“I have always felt, especially at that time, that Russia and Latin America have many things in common,” he said. “First, the very strong living Christian faith; it is really a faith of millions. Christianity in our country and in Latin America is an important factor of not only people’s spiritual but also intellectual life.”

He continued:

Just as in our country, in Latin America I have seen overcrowded churches, examples of remarkable Christian mission, also amidst the poor. I noted the great interest in Russia wherever we met with very warm and emotional manifestations of sympathy towards us.

The nations of Western Europe and North America, on the other hand,

used to be leaders of the Christian world, but they are ceasing to be such. Unlike them, in Latin America churches are not sold to accommodate some secular institutions in them, nor are churches closed but, on the contrary, are being built in a great number in Russia. We have the religious life on the rise, and it is what Russia and Latin American countries have in common.

References:

• Patriarch Kirill meets with heads of diplomatic missions of Latin American countries in Russia (Moscow Patriarchate)

risu.org.ua - The Divine Liturgy and the burial rite of blessed memory Lubomyr (Husar) was held in the Resurrection Cathedral of the UGCC in Kyiv. The hierarchs of the UGCC participated in the service led by Patriarch Sviatoslav Archbishop Cyril (Basil), personal envoy of Pope Francis, Apostolic Nuncio Claudio Gugerotti, Secretary of the Congregation for Eastern Churches.

Clergymen (about 600 priests), monastics and faithful from all over Ukraine and abroad came to pay the last tribute to His Beatitude Lubomyr. Many public figures, government officials and politicians came on this day to honor the former head of the UGCC at the Patriarchal Cathedral. The latter represented different political forces.

CWN - Members of the Russian Catholic Church—one of the smaller Byzantine-rite churches in communion with Rome—fear that they may be forgotten by Vatican officials anxious to improve relations with the Russian Orthodox Church, reports Francis X. Rocca of the Wall Street Journal: Leaders of the Russian Byzantine Catholic Church, with fewer than 30,000 members world-wide, are meeting in Italy this week in their first such synod in a century.

The Russian Catholics have asked Pope Francis for reassurances, and appealed to the Vatican for help in strengthening their community—which has only about 30,000 members. To date they have not received a reply, and an official of the Vatican’s Congregation for Eastern Churches declined to comment for the Wall Street Journal story.

The Orthodox Church dominates religious life in Russia, and the Catholic minority is composed mainly of Latin-rite Catholics. But the Orthodox Church has been extremely sensitive about the existence of Eastern churches in union with Rome, and Vatican support for the Russian Catholic Church would undoubtedly provoke a negative reaction from the Moscow Patriarchate.

The Russian Orthodox Church has frequently complained about the activities of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, which is by far the largest of the Eastern Catholic churches. The Moscow patriarchate argues that the Ukrainian Catholic Church is interfering in the “canonical territory” of the Russian Orthodox.

References:

• Feeling Abandoned, Russian Catholics Appeal to the Pope (Wall Street Journal)

CWN - 90% of graves in a Serbian Orthodox cemetery in Kosovo have been desecrated, according to Serbian media reports.

The incident took place in Mitrovica, a city whose Serbian and Albanian Muslim communities have been deeply divided since the Kosovo War (1998-99).

Serbs are permitted to make only one yearly visit to the old Orthodox cemetery in what is now the Albanian section of Mitrovica. During their recent visit, they discovered the mass destruction of headstones.

References:

• Kosovska Mitrovica, na groblju unisteno 90 odsto nadgrobnih spomenika (Radio Kontakt Plus)
• Cimitero serbo profanato in Kosovo (L’Osservatore Romano, p. 2)