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Last Updated: 05 February 2015

CWN - In a message issue on the second anniversary of his patriarchal election, the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church lamented divisions and other problems within his Eastern Catholic church.

“The situations in our Church were influenced by intellectual shortsightedness, by a lack of spirituality and legal ethic, as well as by inappropriate upbringing,” wrote Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako.

“This was also triggered by a bizarre temper and human nature as well as by personal ambitions,” he continued. “We cannot exclude the local inheritance of certain concepts of power, which still reside in some persons from a certain unfortunate sense of tribal superiority and domination, with such mental stance happening instead of projecting a humble, faithful and generous ministry.”

The Chaldean Catholic Church, he added, “is not to follow exclusively behind nationalist, political or partisan acts because it would make the Church lose its Christian ecclesiastic identity! Thus we reassure everyone that these difficulties, challenges and pressures which we are facing, will not stop us from cleaning and regenerating the Chaldean Church.”

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Last Updated: 05 February 2015

CWN - The Armenian Apostolic Church will recognize the victims of the Armenian genocide as saints, the Fides news service reports.

Patriarch Karekin, the leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church, will preside at a solemn liturgy on April 23 to canonize the genocide victims, who have already been recognized by the Armenian Church as martyrs for their faith.

Patriarch Karekin said that the Armenian Church, in canonizing saints, recognizes the holiness of people already revered for their virtue. “The Church only recognizes what happened: that is, the genocide,” he said.

An estimated 1 to 1.5 million Armenians died in a brutal campaign begun by government of Turkey in 1915.

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Last Updated: 05 February 2015

CWN - Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow praised the Vatican’s “balanced” public stance on the conflict in Ukraine, while denouncing the “Russophobic” attitude of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, in an address to Orthodox bishops meeting in Moscow.

Russian Orthodox spokesmen have consistently blamed the Byzantine-rite Ukrainian Catholic Church for stirring up resentment against Russia, and Patriarch Kirill reinforced that argument. He charged that Byzantine Catholics precipitated a crisis in Ukraine when the “pushed for the overthrow of the authorities using nationalistic and often Russophobic slogans.”

However the Russian primate took care to distinguish between the Ukrainian Catholic Church and the Holy See, saying that the Vatican has “always pursued a balanced stance,” calling for peace talks and cautioning against further violence.

In the same address to the Russian Orthodox hierarchy, Patriarch Kirill also offered a hopeful appraisal of the work of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. He said that disagreements over the last formal statement from that body had been satisfactorily addressed, suggesting that the dialogue could now move forward. The work of the joint commission has been stymied in recent years because of Moscow’s objections.

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Last Updated: 04 February 2015

CWN - At the conclusion of his February 4 general audience, Pope Francis appealed for peace and dialogue in Ukraine.

“Unfortunately the situation is worsening,” he said. “Let us pray the Lord that this horrible fratricidal violence may cease as soon as possible … I think of you, Ukrainian brothers and sisters, this is a war between Christians.”

Victory and defeat “are not the right words,” he added. “The only right word is peace.”

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Last Updated: 04 February 2015

CWN - The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has taken over the Syrian town of Tel Hormizd and has forced the Christian residents to remove the cross from their church, according to the Assyrian International News Agency.

The Islamic State also imposed a tax on Christians, warning that if they did not pay or leave they would be killed.

In the town of Tel Tawil, located three dozen miles away, Christian fighters regained control of the church and remounted a cross that had been removed.

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Last Updated: 02 February 2015

CWN - Bethlehem’s Mayor Vera Baboun plans to ask Pope Francis to intervene in a dispute over plans to extend Israel’s massive security wall through the Cremisan Valley, at the site of a convent school.

The disputed portion of the security wall, which would be built near the town of Beit Jala, is currently be reviewed by the Israeli supreme court. Israeli and Palestinian officials have been unable to reach an agreement on the appropriate placement of the barrier.

Palestinians argue that the wall, in any of the proposed locations, would either separate the school from the town where the students live, or block off access to the only green area near Bethlehem. Mayor Baboun claims that the wall would block economic development, making Bethlehem unsustainable.

Baboun will meet with Pope Francis in Rome next month, along with leaders of the neighboring Palestinian towns, and ask him to press for a change in Israel’s plans.