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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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By Robin Gomes
India-based Syro-Malabar Catholic Church (SMC) on Sunday inaugurated a new diocese that Pope Francis had announced last year to provide pastoral care to India’s SMC faithful living outside their existing dioceses. Shamshabad Eparchy in Telengana state, became the 31st diocese of the eastern rite Church on 7 January with a Holy Mass and ceremony that included the installation of its first head, Bishop Raphael Thattil.
The event was attended by 55 bishops from across India, including Cardinal George Alencherry, the head of the Syro-Malabar Church, Cardinal Baselios Clemis, the head of the Syro-Malankara Church, Vatican officials and hundreds of priests, nuns and lay people from across the country.
Bishop Thattil the Auxiliary bishop of Trichur Archdiocese from 2010, has been serving as Apostolic Visitor since 2014 to SMC faithful outside existing dioceses. He told the gathering, “my ministry is to spread the gospel and it shall be done in communion with all.”
At Sunday’s inauguration ‘Premmarg’, a charitable trust was also launched.
Pope’s measures
In a letter to all the bishops of India dated 9 October 2017, the Pope had announced the creation of Shamshabad Diocese and appointed Bishop Thattil as its first bishop, restoring the ‘all India jurisdiction’ of the Syro Malabar Church.
The Holy Father also created the Diocese of Hosur and appointed as its bishop Fr. Sebastian (Jobby) Pozholiparampil, and extended the jurisdiction of the existing dioceses of Ramanathapuram and Thuckalay.
The territory of Shamshabad Diocese comprises 23 states excluding of the 30 already existing SMC dioceses out of which 14 dioceses are outside Kerala, covering two thirds of the country. Bishop Thattil will serve about 1,20,000 faithful spread across 100 cities in the country and has 11 functional churches and seven under construction with around 88 priests and a few hundred nuns.
Church in India
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) is the apex body of the Catholic Church of India, that comprises three ritual Churches: the Latin rite and two eastern rites – the Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Churches, which claim their origin from St. Thomas the Apostle. Of the 172 dioceses in India, 132 belong to the Latin rite. The SMC also has four dioceses outside India in Australia, Britain, Canada and the US.
Fruitful harmonious cooperation among rites
In his letter to the Indian bishops, Pope Francis urged for “a fruitful and harmonious cooperation” among the bishops of the three ritual Churches of India, as they reach out to provide pastoral care to their respective faithful spread out in various parts of the country.
The Pope noted problems and tensions among the ritual dioceses due to overlapping jurisdiction. “In a world where large numbers of Christians are forced to migrate,” he said, “overlapping jurisdictions have become customary and are increasingly effective tools for ensuring the pastoral care of the faithful while also ensuring full respect for their ecclesial traditions.” “In India itself, overlapping jurisdictions should no longer be problematic, for the Church has experienced them for some time, such as in Kerala,” the Pope wrote.
The smaller Syro-Malankara Church already has the provision to provide pastoral care to its faithful throughout India. Pope Francis has now extended the provision also to the Syro-Malabar Church.
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NATIVITY MESSAGE
of
The Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill
to the
Archpastors, Pastors, Deacons, Monks and Nuns,
and All the Faithful Children of the Russian Orthodox Church
Beloved in the Lord archpastors, all-honourable presbyters and deacons, God-loving monks and nuns, dear brothers and sisters!
From the depths of my heart I congratulate you on the great feast of the Nativity of Christ – the feast of the birth in the flesh of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ from the Holy Spirit and Most Pure Virgin Mary. Today we call upon all people, together with the Church, to glorify the Creator and Maker with the words: “O all the earth, sing ye unto the Lord” (heirmos of the First Ode of the Canon for the Nativity of Christ).
The all-beneficent God who loves his creation sends down his Only-Begotten Son the awaited Messiah so that he may accomplish the cause of our salvation. The Son of God, “which is in the bosom of the Father” (Jn 1:18), becomes the Son of Man and enters our world so that through his blood he may deliver us from sin and so that the sting of death should never inspire fear in the human person.
We know that the Magi who bowed down before Christ brought him gifts. What gift, then, can we bring to the Divine Teacher? The very gift which he asks of us himself: “Give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways” (Prov 23:26). What does it mean to give one’s heart? The heart is a symbol of life. If it ceases to beat, then we die. To give one’s heart to God is to dedicate our whole life to him. This dedication does not require that we renounce all that we have. We are merely called upon to remove from our hearts that which is an obstacle to the Divine presence within it. When all our thoughts are taken up with our own ego, when there is no room in our hearts for our neighbour, then there is no room for the Lord too. The presence of our neighbour in our heart depends mainly upon our capability to feel another’s pain and respond to it with deeds of mercy.
The Lord requires that we “observe his ways.” To observe the ways of God is to see the Divine presence in our lives and in human history: to see the manifestations of both Divine love and his righteous ire.
The past year for our people was replete with reminiscences about the tragic events of the twentieth century and the incipient persecution of the faith. We recalled the great spiritual exploits of the new martyrs and confessors who steadfastly bore witness to their fidelity to Christ. Yet even at that terrible time for our country, the Lord bestowed his mercy: after an enforced two hundred year rupture, the Office of Patriarch was revived in the land of Russia, and the Church, at a time of tribulation, found in the person of the holy bishop Tikhon, who was elected First Hierarch, a wise and courageous pastor, through whose ardent prayers before the Throne of the Most High Creator our Church and people were able to pass through the crucible of trials.
Today we are undergoing a special period: afflictions have not yet left this world, every day we “hear of wars and rumours of wars” (Mt 24:6). Yet how much of God’s love is poured out upon people! The world exists in spite of the forces of evil, while human love and family values abide in spite of the unbelievable attempts to destroy, desecrate and distort them. Faith in God is alive in the hearts of the majority of people. And our Church, in spite of decades of persecution in the recent past and the endeavours to undermine her authority in the present, remains and shall always be with Christ.
We believe that after undergoing the current trials, the peoples of historical Russia will preserve and renew their spiritual unity, will prosper materially and socially.
The Nativity of Christ is the central event of human history. People have always sought out God, yet the Creator – the Triune God – revealed himself as fully as possible to the human race only through the incarnation of his Only-Begotten Son. He came into a world of sin to make people worthy of the beneficent will of the heavenly Father and lay a firm foundation to the world in leaving this precept: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you” (Jn 14:27).
May this year be for our people, for the peoples of historical Russia and all the nations of the earth, a year of peace and prosperity. May the Divine Infant, who has been born in Bethlehem, help us to find hope that overcomes fear, and through faith feel the power of Divine love which transforms the life of people.
Amen.
/+ KIRILL/
PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA
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Damascus (Agenzia Fides) - A mortar shell hit the Bab Tuma area on Monday, January 8, in the old city of Damascus where several churches are concentrated, causing massive damage to the Latin Catholic parish of the Conversion of Saint Paul, entrusted to the pastoral care of the Franciscan friars. The side and the roof of the church were damaged, the windows were broken and the systems used to heat the parish were also damaged. The mortar shells also caused damage to the adjacent Maronite cathedral, built in 1865.
The Archeparchy of Damascus of the Maronites, led by Archbishop Samir Nassar, counted over 20,000 baptized in 2013.
The mortar shells launched against the Old City of Damascus represent yet another confirmation that the conflict in Syria is still ongoing and continues to affect even peripheral areas of the capital. In recent days, local sources contacted by Fides confirmed the news of air raids carried out in the eastern suburbs of Damascus, on areas still in the hands of anti-Assad groups. While Syrian official sources report that in the early hours of today, Tuesday, January 9, Israel implemented an attack on Syrian territory with the use of aircraft and missiles, aimed at hitting a Syrian military base near Katifa, eastern suburb of Damascus. (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 9/1/2017)
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WASHINGTON— Bishop Joseph C. Bambera of the Diocese of Scranton and Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs has issued the following statement on this morning's deadly attack on a Coptic Church and nearby bookstore in Egypt.
Bishop Bambera's full statement follows:
"This morning, at least ten people were killed as armed men attempted to enter Mar Mina Church in Helwan City, south of Cairo and a nearby bookshop. Among the dead are two policemen. The assault took place as a gunman tried to breach the church's security cordon. It is estimated that over 2000 attacks on Coptic Christians by extremists have occurred in the last three years alone.
One week ago, on December 22, hundreds of Muslim demonstrators attacked an unlicensed church south of Cairo wounding three people. Demonstrators chanted anti-Christian slogans and called for the church's demolition. The interior of the church was completely destroyed.
Earlier this year, on May 26, masked militants opened fired on a bus packed with Coptic Christians, including children on their way to the monastery of St. Samule the Confessor in Maghagha, in Minya governorate. In that attack, 28 people were killed and 22 were wounded.
Full Story: http://www.usccb.org/news/2017/17-253.cfm
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An armed man opened fire at a Christian-run liquor store in Giza, killing two people. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on the church of Mar Mina in Helwan. Solidarity between Christians and Muslims against terrorism is growing. Fr. Rafic: The attacks are an "intimidating message" to the government and president for their tolerance towards Christians.
Link: http://www.asianews.it/news-en/A-bloody-New-Year-in-Egypt-as-two-Coptic-brothers-killed-42724.html
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CWN - The Grand Imam of al-Azhar condemned recent terrorist attacks on Coptic Christians “in the strongest terms” and called upon Egypt’s Muslims to celebrate Christmas to show their solidarity with Christians.
The Coptic Orthodox Church (background) celebrates Christmas on January 7.
“All Egyptian people are urged to stand firm against this evil conspiracy” and to join “their Coptic brethren in celebrating the anniversary of Christ’s birth,” said Ahmed el-Tayeb, whom some Muslims regard as the highest Sunni Muslim authority.
On December 29, gunmen on a motorcycle attacked a Coptic Orthodox church in Helwan, a city of 640,000 near Cairo, leaving 10 dead, including security officers. Egyptian state media reported that one gunman was killed by security forces in a shootout, while the other was arrested.
That same day, two Coptic Christians were killed in an attack on their store in Helwan.Pope Tawadros II, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, decried the “treachery and cowardliness of the evils that were the reason for this painful incident.”
“All condolences to their families and to the police, the church and to Egypt, which will still be strong and capable of defeating insensitive and dark and violent forces which have no conscience,” he added.
Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, condemned the attack, stating that “the sign that Christians can give to the world is that of a great faith, a choice of life lived in the mystery of Christ.” Referring to persecuted Coptic Christians, he said that “we can learn many things from these believers.”
“The government is doing everything possible to protect churches, but fear remains,” added Archbishop Bruno Musarò, the apostolic nuncio to Egypt.
Following the recitation of the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square on December 31, Pope Francis expressed his closeness to Coptic Christians and prayed for the conversion of “all violent hearts.”
Further information:
- Egyptians are united against terror attacks (Gulf News)
- Coptic Pope Tawadros extends sincere condolences to victims of Egypt church attack (Ahram Online)
- Gunmen attack Coptic church near Cairo; at least 10 killed (CWN, 12/29)
- Egypt says 10 killed in attack outside Cairo church (Fox News)
- Solidarietà alla comunità copta colpita dai jihadisti (L’Osservatore Romano, p. 1)