VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI opened the Synod of Bishops
for the Middle East with a strong call to support the
minority Christian population in the region, and said peace
and protection of human rights were essential conditions for
the Church’s survival there.
Celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica Oct. 10 with more
than 250 synod participants, the pope said the Middle East
has a unique place in salvation history as the “cradle” of
the Church’s worldwide evangelizing mission.
The synod’s primary goal, he said, was to renew the pastoral
energy of Middle Eastern Church communities and strengthen
their faith identity, so that they can continue to witness
the Gospel to all peoples. That task, he added, goes hand in
hand with the church’s dialogue with Muslims and Jews.
The Mass featured liturgical elements from many of the
Catholic rites of the Middle East, as well as prayers in
Latin. It began with a long procession of 177 synod fathers,
many of whom wore the distinctive vestments and headgear of
their Eastern rites.
Prayers of the faithful were recited in English, Arabic,
Turkish, Hebrew and Farsi, invoking the need for peace, the
promotion of tolerance and the Christian duty to evangelize
through example. The Eucharistic liturgy featured a hymn in
Arabic and Syriac, sung by an inter-ritual choir of Eastern
pontifical colleges in Rome.
The pope was joined at the altar by several chief
concelebrants, including two honorary president delegates of
the synod: the Lebanon-based Maronite patriarch, Cardinal
Nasrallah P. Sfeir, and the Chaldean patriarch, Cardinal
Emmanuel-Karim Delly of Baghdad.
In his opening remarks, Pope Benedict said the Mass would
help them all spiritually prepare for “these days of intense
work.” The 83-year-old pope was to preside over most of the
twice-daily sessions of the synod assembly, which was to
conclude Oct. 24.
In his homily, the pope emphasized the synod’s theme of unity
in a land where the Church has a rich variety of liturgical,
spiritual, cultural and disciplinary traditions. Without
church unity, there can be no real witnessing of the faith,
he said.
The pope encouraged the Middle East church leaders to rise
above their present difficulties with the same spirit of
Pentecost that moved the early Church.
“The first Christians in Jerusalem were few. No one could
have imagined what happened afterward. And the Church still
lives with that same energy that made the early Church arise
and grow,” he said.
The synod’s role, he said, was to renew that sense of
“permanent dynamism” among Catholic communities of the Middle
East. In that sense, he said, the synod was primarily
pastoral, although it could not ignore the often dramatic
social and political situations in which Christians live.
The pope said that in order to effectively witness their
faith, the Church’s members need to strengthen their
Christian identity through the word of God and the
sacraments. Such witness is also a fundamental human right,
and requires conditions of peace and justice – a
responsibility that implicates the international community as
well as the majority religions of the region, he said.
The pope said the synod would promote ecumenism as well as
interfaith dialogue. Jewish and Muslim representatives were
scheduled to address the synod, and leaders of other
Christian churches were also invited.
“This event is favorable for continuing constructive dialogue
with Jews, with whom we are tied in a permanent way by the
long history of the covenant, as well as with Muslims,” he
said.
The pope pledged that the Catholic communities in the region
would continue to contribute much to their societies, not
only in works of social promotion like schools and hospitals,
but also by practicing the Gospel values of forgiveness and
reconciliation.
In keeping up this social presence, he added, the Christians
of the Middle East must rely on support from Catholic
communities around the world, many of which also sent
representatives to the synod.
After the Mass, addressing pilgrims who packed St. Peter’s
Square below his apartment window, the pope asked for prayers
for the success of the synod. He said the Church in the
Middle East has been afflicted by the “deep divisions and
age-old conflicts” of the region, but today is called to be
an instrument of reconciliation, on the model of the first
Christian community of Jerusalem.
Noting that October is the month of the rosary, which he
called a “biblical prayer,” the pope entrusted the synod to
Mary’s intercession.
