News
Byzcath.org News provides news focusing on the Christian East from varous sources and offers links to other sites dedicated to providing the news about the Church.
Churches and organizations that provide news about the Eastern Churches are invited to submit their news stories to us for publication here (use the contact page for submission)..
Materials from the Vatican Information Service, Zenit, CWNews.com and other sources are published here with permission of their owners but may not be republished further without the permission of their original publishers. Please visit these sites to obtain additional general news about the Church. In addition to these sources EWTN News also provides a good general news summary.
Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
- Details
vatican.va - The Holy Father Francis has granted his assent to the canonical election by the Synod of Bishops of the Patriarchal Church of Antioch of the Syrians of the Rev. Charles Georges Mrad as bishop of the Curia, assigning him the titular seat of Zorava,
Rev. Charles Georges Mrad
Rev. Charles Georges Mrad was born on 15 April 1969 in Beyrouth. Lebanon. After his institutional studies at the Charfet Seminary, he obtained a licentiate in theology from the Saint-Esprit University of Kalish and a licentiate in civil law from the “La Sagesse” University of Beirut. In 2003 he obtained a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Lateran University, Rome.
He was ordained on 18 July 1993 for the Patriarchal Eparchy where, until now he has served as parish priest, university professor and judge at the Patriarchal Court.
He speaks fluent Arabic, Syriac, French, English and Italian.
- Details
press.vatican.va (2018-02-16) - At 11.45 this morning, in the Consistory Hall of the Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father Francis received in audience the Community of the Pontifical Maronite College in Rome, on the tenth anniversary of the approval of the new Statute of the College.
The following is the Pope’s address to those present at the meeting:
Address of the Holy Father
Excellency, dear Brothers,
I greet you with affection, and am glad to welcome you. This year will be the tenth anniversary of the approval of the new Statute of your College. It is an opportunity not only to meet but also to commemorate your history and to explore your roots. In reality, this time you spend in Rome is a time to consolidate your roots. I think of the roots present in the very name of your Church, which refers to Saint Maron – you celebrated him a few days ago – and along with him, to monasticism, that form of life that is not satisfied with a moderate and discreet faith, but feels the need to go beyond, to love with all the heart. Poor lives in the eyes of the world, but precious for God and for others. It is by drawing from these pure wellsprings that your ministry will be good water for those who thirst today. Our heart, like a compass, seeks to orient itself and is drawn towards what it loves; “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mt 6: 21), says Jesus. You, in these years, helped by spiritual formation, by study, by community life, have the grace of orienting your heart well, so that it may find the zeal of your great fathers and mothers in faith.
There is however the risk, today, of being absorbed by the culture of the temporary and of appearances. These years are an opportunity for developing antibodies against worldliness and mediocrity. They are years of exercise in the “Roman gym” where, with the help of God and of those who accompany you on your journey, you will be able to consolidate your foundations: first and foremost, those of an indispensable spiritual discipline, which is based on the pillars of prayer and inner labour. A liturgical and personal prayer in which rites are not enough, but which leads to life before the Lord, and the Lord within life. A patient inner labour that, open to exchange, helped by study and tempered by effort, operates a discernment that recognizes the temptations and unmasks falsehoods, to live the ministry in the greatest freedom, without duplicity, without pretence.
The human, intellectual and spiritual enrichment your receive in these years are not an award for you, and far less a commodity to be exploited for one’s own career, but rather a treasure destined for the faithful who await you in your Eparchies and to whom your life awaits to be donated. Because you will not be called to exercise, even well, an office – it is not enough! – but rather to live a mission, without sparing yourselves, without calculations, without limits of availability. You yourselves will need to listen to people: indeed, God will confirm you through their lives, through many encounters, through His unexpected surprises. And you, as pastors in close contact with the flock, will savour the most genuine joy when you stoop to them, making their joys and sufferings your own, and when at the end of the day you are able to recount to the Lord the love you have received and given.
You are called to live all this in a time that is not without sufferings and dangers, but also filled with hope. The people who will be entrusted to you, disoriented by the instability that unfortunately continues to have repercussions on the Middle East, will seek in you pastors who console them: pastors with the word of Jesus on their lips, with hands ready to dry their tears and to caress suffering countenances; pastors who forget themselves and their own interests; pastors who are never discouraged, because every day they draw from the Eucharistic bread the sweet strength of love that satiates; pastors who are not afraid to be “eaten up” by the people, like good bread offered to brothers.
Faced with the many needs that await you, the temptation can come to act in the way of the world, seeking out those who are strong rather than those who are weak, looking to those who have means rather than those who lack them. But when this temptation comes, it is necessary to return immediately to the roots, to Jesus who refused success, glory and money, because the only treasure that oriented His life was the will of the Father: announcing salvation to all peoples, proclaiming God’s mercy with His life. This changes history. And it all begins with not losing sight of Jesus, of looking at Him as Saint Maron, Saint Charbel, Saint Rafqa and many other of your “heroes of sainthood”. They are the models to imitate to repel the temptations of careerism, power and clericalism. The course that honours Christian life is not ascent towards prizes and the rewarding certainties of the world, but the humble descent in service. It is the road of Jesus: there is no other.
I would still like to share two wishes with you, thinking of your precious ministry. The first: peace. Today fraternity and integration represent urgent challenges, that can no longer be postponed, and in this regard Lebanon has not only something to say, but also a special vocation of peace to be accomplished in the world. Among the sons of your land, you, in a special way, will be called to serve all as brothers, firstly by sensing that you are all brothers. Helped by your knowledge, work to ensure that Lebanon can always correspond “to its vocation of being light for the peoples of the region and a sign of the peace that comes from God” (John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation A New Hope for Lebanon, 125).
The second desire concerns young people. As a Church we wish increasingly to have them at heart, accompany them with trust and patience, dedicating time to them and listening to them. Young people are the promise of the future, the most serious investment for your ministry. Pope Benedict, meeting them, said: “Young people from Lebanon, be welcoming and open, as Christ asks you and how your country teaches you” (Meeting with young people, 15 September 2012). Yours is the mission of helping them open their hearts to good, so that they may experience the joy of welcoming the Lord in their lives.
Dear brothers, I thank you for your presence and, as I entrust you to the protection of Our Lady of Lebanon and your great Saints, I give you my blessing and I ask you to remember me in prayer. Thank you!
Link: http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2018/02/16/180216d.html
- Details
Two years ago, Pope Francis and the Patriarch of Moscow Kirill met in the Cuban capital. At this time the common commitment to the Christian communities in the Middle East was strengthened. In Havana, both leaders used the word "genocide" to define the persecution of Christians. The optimism of Metropolitan Hilarion.
Moscow (AsiaNews) - The defence of Christians and the protection of sanctuaries in the Middle East was the focus of an international conference, with the participation of representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church and of the Catholic Church, held in Vienna on 12 February . The conference was planned in the framework of Catholic-Orthodox cooperation for the help of Christians in the Middle East, but it was also an opportunity to remember the second anniversary of the meeting between Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis in Havana of 12 February 2016.
The Russian delegation to Vienna was led by Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev), head of the Department of External Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate; on the Catholic side there was Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Also present were Metropolitan Ignatius of the Orthodox Church of Antioch, head of the Paris office; the director of the Moscow Patriarchate Directorate for Foreign Institutions, the Archbishop of Vienna and Budapest Antonij (Sevrjuk, former secretary of Patriarch Kirill and pastor of the Russian Church in Rome); the metropolitan of the Syro-Jacobite Church in Austria and Switzerland, Dionisio Issa Gurbuz; the head of the diocese of Damascus of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Bishop Armas Nalbandian of the Catholicosato of Echmjadzin; Bishop Joseph Mouawad, head of the Maronite diocese of Zahleh in Lebanon.
Card. Cristoph Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna, did the honors, welcoming guests to the archiepiscopal palace with these words: "We heard the joint appeal of Catholic priests for Christians in the Middle East who need not only humanitarian aid, but also political support. Many archbishops are turning to their own countries and their governments, to do all they can to re-establish peace in that region. The commitment of the Russian Orthodox Church has always been clear to our priests, and I also think of the Russian government, which has always been directed to providing help for Christians in this region".
Click here to continue reading at: http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Cooperation-between-Catholics-and-Russian-Orthodox-two-years-after-the-Havana-meeting-43096.html
- Details
Nineteen Chaldean bishops met with Pope Francis and several dicasteries during their ad limina visit to the Vatican last week. They frankly shared their concerns over the crisis in the Arab-Muslim world, Patriarch Louis-Raphael Sako told “La Croix.”
Anne-Bénédicte Hoffner for "La Croix" interviewed Patriarch Louis-Raphael Sako. The interview follows:
La Croix: Pope Francis held an audience with 19 of your bishops on Feb. 5. It is now just over six months after the fall of Mosul, where the roots of your church are based. What did you tell him?
Patriarch Louis-Raphael Sako: The first thing we said is that Middle Eastern Christians need more support than ever from their Western brothers amid the tragic situation that they are experiencing as a result of ISIS and the violence that has ravaged the region.
We would like Rome to say more about us and show greater support during this difficult period when so many of our faithful have been hunted from their homes and are still living as displaced people in camps in the middle of their own country or as refugees elsewhere.
We also suggested to Francis that there could be a common declaration on the status of Jerusalem that he would sign together with the Eastern Patriarchs.
Muslims would be very appreciative if he became involved on this issue in the wake of the announcement by the United States that it will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The pope invited us to speak freely and we did so. He listened to us for an hour and a half.
Click here to read full story at: https://international.la-croix.com/news/middle-east-christians-need-rome-s-support-patriarch-sako/6916
- Details
By Devin Watkins
Pope Francis concelebrated Mass on Tuesday morning with the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, Youssef Absi.
Instead of delivering a homily, Pope Francis said a few words about the meaning of the day’s celebration, at which members of the Melkite Greek Synod participated.
“This Mass with our brother, Patriarch Youssef,” the Pope said, “confirms our Apostolic Communion: He is the father of a very ancient Church, and he comes to embrace Peter and to say ‘I am in communion with Peter.’” The Holy Father said this was the meaning of the Eucharistic celebration.
Click here to read full story and audio report at: http://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/mass-casa-santa-marta/2018-02/pope-francis-says-mass-with-melkite-greek-patriarch-.html
- Details
Mardin (Agenzia Fides) - A decree has ordered the full restitution of ecclesiastical assets scattered in the Mardin region to the Syriac Orthodox Church and that in 2017 had been placed under the control of Turkish public institutions.
The attorney of the Foundation of the Monastery of Mor Gabriel, announced that the matter was the subject of a decree. 30 ecclesiastical assets will be returned to the foundations and to the organisms linked to the Syriac-Orthodox Church which previously belonged to them. Among the assets that will definitively be returned to the control of the Syriac Orthodox Church there are the three monasteries of Mor Melki, Mor Yakup and Mor Dimet.
The shadow of a possible expropriation of the Syriac Orthodox church assets by the Turkish apparatuses had appeared in the 2016/2017 biennium, when those assets were placed under the direct control of the Undersecretariat for the Treasury, and seemed they were soon to be entrusted to the management of the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet, a body linked directly to the Prime Minister). The operation was carried out at the end of the process with which Mardin had been transformed into a metropolitan municipality, and the consequent administrative reorganization of the territory had transformed the surrounding villages into as many neighborhoods in the metropolitan area. Faced with these developments, the Mor Gabriel Foundation, which runs the most important Syriac Orthodox monastery on Turkish land (see photo), in June 2017 had presented a petition to the civil court of Mardin to ask to stop the process of expropriation of Syriac-Orthodox churches, monasteries and cemeteries and their transfer under the direct control of Turkish governmental bodies. Turkey had denied any intention to expropriate 50 Christian churches and monasteries scattered around Mardin. The office of the governor of Mardin had declared to the Turkish media that the ownership and administrative management of the churches and monasteries in question still had to be legally defined, and in the meantime the ecclesiastical property will still be registered at the Treasury and will not end up under the control of Diyanet. (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 13/2/2018)