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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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CWN - As lawmakers discuss the wording of a constitution for the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan, the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church called for the inclusion of the word “Christians” in the text.
The draft constitution states that Kurdistan includes “Kurds, Turkmens, Arabs, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Armenians, and others.”
Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako told the Fides news agency that the text implied that religion is less important than ethnicity.
“Now, unfortunately, you hear someone who says: I am more Armenian than Christian, more Assyrian than Christian,” he said.
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CWN - The head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria, said that a proposal to make the third Sunday of April the common date for the Christian celebration of Easter is being studied.
The prelate made his remarks on May 3 during a visit to Amsterdam, according to the Fides news service.
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CWN - Speaking at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church praised Pope Francis and Cardinal Pietro Parolin while offering strong criticism of Ukraine’s Eastern Catholics.
“Pope Francis and the Holy See’s Secretary of State have taken a considered position on the situation in Ukraine, avoiding unilateral assessments and calling for an end to the fratricidal war,” said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, according to a report from the Interfax news agency.
“This is very important because, as we know, the Greek Catholics and schismatics in Ukraine have taken a unilateral position, add oil to the fire, incite negative feelings, pit people against one another, and call this the protection of national interests, stage witch hunts, seize Orthodox churches and from being a peacekeeping force have turn into an ideological one that serves one side of the civil conflict,” he added.
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CWN - The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople has strongly denied a report on a Greek religious news site that the committee preparing the agenda for the 2016 Pan-Orthodox Council is seeking “to submit a methodology whereby the Holy and Great Council will express its solidarity with ‘sexual minorities.’”
“Not only was there no such decision by the special committee that I chair, but absolutely not a single member of this committee expressed such support, whether direct or indirect, of the lifestyle of these ‘minorities,’” said Archbishop John Zizioulas of Pergamon.
“Not demonstrating violence against sinners emanates from the Gospel principle of love toward every sinful person (see, among many other examples, the case of the stoning of the woman in adultery in John 8:3-11), but absolutely no member of the committee related with either approval or acceptance their lifestyle, as the matter is maliciously presented in the articles and comments,” he added.
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CWN - The head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, whose patriarchal offices are located in Baghdad, has published a reflection on the Armenian genocide and the current persecution of Christians by the Islamic State.
“How come the world did not deal with that horrible incident of massacres, in an appropriate way, a hundred years ago?” asked Patriarch Louis Raphaël I Sako.
“And today, after a hundred years, despite the evolution of the media, why is the world is not seriously reacting neither towards the dramatic uprooting of 120,000 Iraqi Christians from their towns and homes, nor towards the Syrians’ tragedies and the crimes committed against the Copts and Ethiopians who were killed and slaughtered like sheep in Libya?”
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CWN - The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church has said that planning for an All-Orthodox Council has been complicated by “some intrigues, undercurrents, and attempts to influence, including on the part of political forces.”
Nevertheless, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow expressed confidence that the Council—the first such meeting of all the Orthodox churches since their break with Rome—would take place on schedule. “If everything goes well, the Council will be held in 2016,” he said.
The Russian prelate mentioned fallout from the political unrest in Ukraine as one of the factors that was causing difficulties for the planning of the Council. He also mentioned that the persecution of Orthodox Christians in the Middle East was causing problems for Church leaders in preparation for the event.
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