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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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February 23, 2018
USCIRF Concerned by Denial of Lautenberg Refugees from Iran
“These refugees face the imminent danger of return to Iran, where the already dire situation for religious minorities is steadily deteriorating,” said USCIRF Chairman Daniel Mark
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is concerned by recent reports that roughly 100 members of Iranian religious minorities, who sought resettlement to the United States, have been denied asylum and could be returned to Iran where they may face discrimination and persecution.
The refugees, most of whom are reported to be Assyrian or Armenian Christians, were seeking refuge in the United States under the Lautenberg Amendment. The Lautenberg Amendment, enacted in 1990, was expanded in 2004 to allow members of Iranian religious minorities, including Christians, Zoroastrians, Baha’is, and others, to apply for refugee status under a special category in recognition of their status as persecuted minorities.
“National security must remain a priority for all U.S. government policies,” commented Chairman Daniel Mark. “Yet we also must make timely security assessments in keeping with the intent of the Lautenberg Amendment. These refugees face the imminent danger of return to Iran, where the already dire situation for religious minorities is steadily deteriorating.”
Typically, Lautenberg Amendment processing takes only a few months and has a high rate of approval for admission into the United States. This group of Iranian religious minorities has waited in Vienna for over a year, despite reportedly being vetted before being invited to Vienna, as is common practice for refugees under the Lautenberg Amendment.
“Recent public statements by the administration regarding the plight of religious minorities in the Middle East as well as President Trump’s national security strategy evince a clear commitment to the protection of religious freedom as a U.S. foreign policy priority, and few policies embody this commitment more than the Lautenberg Amendment,” continued Chairman Mark.
USCIRF repeatedly has recommended that the Lautenberg Amendment be renewed in order to offer protection to Iranian religious minorities like Christians and Baha’is who face persecution, discrimination, or harassment at the hands of the Iranian government. Since 1999, the State Department has designated Iran as a “country of particular concern” for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.
For more information, see USCIRF’s 2017 annual report chapter on Iran.
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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission, the first of its kind in the world. USCIRF reviews the facts and circumstances of religious freedom violations abroad and makes policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and the Congressional leadership of both political parties. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at
http://www.uscirf.gov/news-room/press-releases/uscirf-concerned-denial-lautenberg-refugees-iran
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ugcc.org.ua - The issue of wages and social justice is one of the most urgent in Ukrainian society, but it is also the most painful one. Thousands of Ukrainians, due to circumstances, are forced to seek a better fate in other countries. And those Ukrainian citizens who still remain, do not feel that their work is properly appreciated. After all, wages should not only ensure physical needs of a person, but also his/her maximum development, including dignity. That is why the state, employer and employee must take on social responsibility for improving their well-being.
In general, the Father and the Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, spoke about this on Saturday, February 17, during the live broadcast of the Open Church program on social justice.
"When we talk about decent wages, we primarily rely on the concept of the dignity of a human person. We understand that salary is not only to assure some of his basic needs, but also to feel his own dignity. A person should know that the society and the employer treat him with due respect. After all, everyone needs the necessary conditions for the development of their gifts and talents, spiritual and cultural level," said the spiritual leader at the beginning of the program.
The hierarch claims that he is very upset when we often talk about wages and we are subconsciously thinking of such a payout, which our country now puts forward, in terms of basic or minimum wages. In his opinion, the minimum wage not always can ensure decent development of an individual in Ukraine.
So the Church does not say so much about a certain amount, as about other aspects that must be assured. After all, there are professions that require long-term training, a large personal contribution on the part of a person. The concept of decent wages is based on this.
The Head of the UGCC during the program also answered questions about the unofficial salary. He believes that "salary in envelopes" is a great offense and falsehood. "I think that this kind of salary is a disdain for the person who works. Why? On the one hand, such a salary does not provide all the necessary social guarantees for an employee. Therefore, it is not worthy of the employee who sacrifices his personal skills, efforts, time and attention in order to work," stressed the Head of the Church. - "On the other hand, it is a great offense for the state, because it can not then properly develop and provide decent conditions for creating common good. Therefore, every employer must feel his duty of social responsibility!"
His Beatitude Sviatoslav added that now skilled managers (who understand how to develop their businesses) are aware that they also need to invest in their employees. Instead, the shadow wage is a refusal to invest in a person who works. It is clear that such a relationship between the employee and the employer (where part of the salary is hidden in the shade) creates such circumstances when a person will not work in such a place for long because he feels not properly respected.
"It is interesting and pleasant to see that after the Revolution of Dignity, there was a social request to abandon "wages in envelopes." The state should create appropriate conditions, circumstances in order to motivate employers not to pay their employees "wages in envelopes," said the Head of the UGCC.
In addition, he urged the viewers to get used to the fact that we have a duty to pay taxes, because otherwise we refuse to build our own state. However, fair relations between the state, the tax system and those that create jobs (avoiding excessive taxes, tax pressure, etc.) should be established.
"The state must respect those who give salaries, who develop businesses which create jobs for its citizens! Unfortunately, I have such a feeling that the relationship between an honest employer, an honest worker and an honest state that duly respects both the first and the second is not yet regulated! "- emphasized His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
Department of Information of the UGCC
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(from Beirut) “How can you talk of peace when some are fuelling wars in the Region? What are the consequences of the conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen? Only death, hatred, and violence! Where is the democracy that some wanted to bring? We see nothing but desolation. Despite everything, I believe we can still hope and live in dignity and respect”. Father Paul Karam, President of Caritas Lebanon, said this yesterday as he met a group of delegates from some Italian Diocesan Caritas on their solidarity visit to Lebanon promoted by Caritas Italy. “Lebanon – the Maronite priest said – can no longer pay the bills of other people’s wars unleashed on our borders” – a clear reference to the conflicts in Iraq and Syria which have pushed into the Country of the Cedars over one million Syrians and countless Iraqis, who add their numbers to the decades-long presence of Palestinians. It is estimated that one third of the Lebanese population is made up of refugees, with serious social, political and economic repercussions for the country. And their numbers are rising. According to Father Karam, “in the first half of 2017 alone, 170 thousand children were born to refugee families. These children have no rights or citizenship, they are born invisible”. Father Karam explained that Caritas “is trying to do its utmost to meet the needs of both local and refugee populations with dedicated projects, also thanks to the support of other bodies such as Caritas Italy. The Lebanese have increasingly been the focus of our projects. Indeed, recent studies have shown that about 35% of Lebanese people live below the poverty line. And the conditions of Palestinian refugees are also worsening”. To revive its aid programs, Caritas Lebanon has launched a Lenten campaign based on three actions, to “help, donate and support, where material aid goes hand in hand with sharing and spiritual support. Let us not be fooled by large buildings, by shopping malls full of lights, by building sites that churn out luxury apartments”, the President of Caritas said. “Many of these, approximately 60%, are owned by businessmen from the Gulf countries. Here in Lebanon, the poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer. The middle class no longer exists. Young couples struggle to get married, to find a home and a job. Were it not for the remittances of the approximately 18 million Lebanese of the diaspora, Lebanon today would be on the verge of bankruptcy. Families live on the aid they receive from their relatives abroad”.
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The Interreligious Council in Russia has issued a statement on the attack made on February 18, 2018, against believers who were coming out of the St. George church in Kizlyar. As a result of the shooting opened by a criminal five women were killed and several people were wounded.
We, heads and representatives of the traditional religions in Russia, were pained by the news about an attack against Orthodox believers in the town of Kizlyar in which five people were killed. The perpetrator of the crime purposefully shot at Orthodox believers at the moment when they were coming out of the church after a divine service.
The killer carried out his attack on the Forgiveness Sunday – the day when the Orthodox Christians traditionally seek to reconcile themselves with all. It exposes the misanthropic ideology of extremism manifesting the true face of the Satan’s servants who cover up their true face with the name of God. The aim of the terrorist and his inspirers is to stir up interreligious discord, to destroy the age-old tradition of peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims in Russia. The religious leaders of our country call to do everything possible to prevent it.
In these mournful days we appeal to all to refrain from provocative actions. The terrorist act in Kizlyar again and again makes us all to pay attention to the danger of spreading extremism and intolerance, especially among the youth. In this connection, we call upon the Russian State and public and religious institutions to give the closest attention to the moral education of young people, which is called to guard them against the threat of extremism.
Once again it has become clear that today children and youth stand in the vital need to receive the right notions of religion, to learn to distinguish between age-old religious traditions and imported pseudo-religious teachings and extremist sects.
We call upon the special services leaders and officers to do all that is possible to detect and neutralize those who have joined terrorist organization and become imbued with misanthropic ideology before they will commit crimes.
We call our whole society to peace, accord and solidarity. Let the common grief that has befallen us make us rally even more strongly.
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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.
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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