In late October 1965, the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council issued an extremely important document named Nostra Aetate, meaning “In our Age”, which tackles the relationships with religions or their followers. The document dedicated some paragraphs to Muslims which reflected the respect and appreciation the Church harbours to the followers of the Islamic religion.
War in Iraq and Syria have taken a heavy toll on the Chaldean Christians of the Middle East. Now Chaldean bishops like Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil, Iraq are asking what they can do to help Christian refugees survive and preserve their faith in times of trouble.
Although the Pope was saddened by the disloyalty and betrayal of the two collaborators whom he had trusted, he is not concerned about the fact that the content of the documents was made public: after all, it was the Holy See that had called for the investigation. Rents from Vatican properties help the missions but reforms need to be made to the way they are managed.
In his message to Cardinal Kurt Koch, the Pope said: “We are not indifferent to our suffering brothers and sisters” who are “witness[es] to Christ, even to the shedding of blood”.
During the mass for deceased cardinals and bishops, Francis said: “those who do not live to serve have no reason to be alive”; may we “be free from the anxieties of the ephemeral, which pass and vanish”.
Following the conclusion of the Fourteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family, the Synod Fathers issued a statement in which they stated their wish to focus their attention towards the families of the Middle East. The statement reads that the region has been going through bloody disputes for years, where families living there suffer from grave problems that have been aggravated over the past months and weeks.
According to the President of CELAM, we need to work toward an ecological conversion on all levels, starting with those who are at the forefront of development.
The Pope dedicated the General Audience, on Thursday October 28, in St. Peter’s Square to the 50th anniversary of the conciliar declaration Nostra Aetate and to dialogue between Jews and Muslims.
Following is the text of an interview conducted with Msgr. William Shomali, patriarchal vicar for Jerusalem, on October 26, 2015, regarding the volatile situation in Jerusalem and the West Bank, as well as its effect on the diminishing Christian presence in the Holy Land:
Msgr. William Shomali, the whole world is shocked by what is happening right now in Jerusalem. The situation seems hopeless. How do you endure these events at the level of the Christian community?
She took the Rosary of Mercy and the prescription medicine out of her coat pocket.
