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
CWN - Egyptian authorities have suspended an Islamic preacher from public ministry, after he denounced Christians and Jews as “infidels.”
During a television broadcast, Salem Abdel Galil referred to Christianity and Judaism as “corrupt” faiths, whose practitioners cannot go to heaven. His comments were roundly criticized by other Muslim leaders, who observed that his language was similar to that of radical preachers who had stirred up violence against the country’s Christian minority. In his own defense, Galil said that he believed Christians and Jews hold “corrupt doctrines”—just as Christians and Jews believe that Islamic doctrines are corrupt. He declined to retract his statements.
The Egyptian ministry of religious affairs—where Galil once worked—announced that the preacher could not make television broadcasts or lead public prayers until he apologized for his comments. A television station that had broadcast his sermons, issued its own apology.
Galil also faces criminal charges, under a law against defamation of religious faiths. Naguib Gobrali, a Christian lawyer, filed a complaint, saying that Galil’s words “constitute confessional defamation.” A court will hear the case in June.
References:
- Details
CWN - Pope Francis has sent a message of thanks to Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II, expressing his “profound appreciation for your hospitality” during the papal visit to Egypt last month.
The Pope’s message was dated May 10, the 4th anniversary of a visit to Rome by the Egyptian prelate. In it, Pope Francis speaks of “the spiritual bonds uniting the See of Peter and the See of Mark.”
The Pontiff says that he was moved by the opportunity to join with the Coptic prelate in prayer. In particular he writes, “I am especially grateful that we have strengthened our baptismal unity in the body of Christ by declaring together “that we, with one mind and heart, will seek sincerely not to repeat the baptism that has been administered in either of our Churches for any person who wishes to join the other.”
References:
- Details
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Saturday accepted the resignation of the Melkite Greek Patriarch of Antioch, His Beatitude Gregory III Laham, from his pastoral office. A letter from the Holy Father to the Patriarch-emeritus and all the Melkite bishops explains that His Beatitude presented his resignation during the course of a special audience with the Holy Father in February, and that the Holy Father has decided to accept the resignation.
In the letter, Pope Francis thanks the 83 year-old Patriarch-emeritus, “a zealous servant of the People of God, for the generous service to his Church and for keeping the international community’s attention focused on the tragedy of Syria.”
The Holy Father goes on to write, “I invoke upon you all the intercession of The Holy Mother of God and willingly give the Apostolic Blessing to our dear Greco-Melkite Church as a sign of grace and encouragement for the future of communion and witness of the Gospel.”
- Details
On April 29, the second and final day of his apostolic journey to Egypt, Pope Francis celebrated an outdoor Mass at the Egyptian Air Defense Stadium in Cairo.
During the homily, the Pope reflected on the encounter between the risen Lord and the disciples on the way to Emmaus.
“The experience of the disciples on the way to Emmaus teaches us that it is of no use to fill our places of worship if our hearts are empty of the fear of God and of his presence,” he preached. “It is of no use to pray if our prayer to God does not turn into love for our brothers and sisters. All our religiosity means nothing unless it is inspired by deep faith and charity.”
CWN - The Pope continued: "God is pleased only by a faith that is proclaimed by our lives, for the only fanaticism believers can have is that of charity! Any other fanaticism does not come from God and is not pleasing to him!
So now, like the disciples of Emmaus, filled with joy, courage and faith, return to your own Jerusalem, that is, to your daily lives, your families, your work and your beloved country. Do not be afraid to open your hearts to the light of the Risen Lord, and let him transform your uncertainty into a positive force for yourselves and for others. Do not be afraid to love everyone, friends and enemies alike, because the strength and treasure of the believer lies in a life of love!"
Following Mass, the Pope had lunch with the nation’s bishops.Before departing for Rome, Pope Francis met with Egyptian priests, religious, and seminarians at the seminary in Cairo.
The Pope encouraged them not to give in to seven temptations, including “the temptation to let ourselves be led, rather than to lead,” and “the temptation to complain constantly.”
“Do not be afraid of the burdens of your daily service and the difficult circumstances some of you must endure,” he said. “We venerate the Holy Cross, the instrument and sign of our salvation. When we flee the Cross, we flee the resurrection!”
The Pope added: "Egypt has enriched the Church through the inestimable value of monastic life. I urge you, therefore, to draw upon to the example of Saint Paul the Hermit, Saint Anthony, the holy Desert Fathers, and the countless monks and nuns who by their lives and example opened the gates of heaven to so many of our brothers and sisters.
You too can be salt and light, and thus an occasion of salvation for yourselves and for all others, believers and non-believers alike, and especially for those who are poor, those in need, the abandoned and discarded."
References:
- Apostolic Journey of the Holy Father to Egypt (28-29 April 2017) (Holy See)
- Videos from the apostolic journey (YouTube Vatican)
- Pope to Egypt's priests and religious: be sowers of hope and dialogue (Vatican Radio)
- Pope Francis in Cairo: full text of homily at Sat AM Mass (Vatican Radio)
- Pope decries violence, underlines Christian unity, on first day of Egypt visit (CWN, 4/28)
- Details
(27-28 April 2017)
Cairo, Egypt
28 April 2017
This conference is the second organised this year by Al-Azhar on a new international and interfaith platform.
The first such, with the very significant title Religious Freedom: citizenship, diversity and integration, had been held from 28 February to 1 March 2017. My talk at that conference was published in the conference acts, but I further outlined my ideas in a dozen interviews in various media outlets.
Christian and Muslim faith leaders, scholars and political figures were invited to both conferences.
Talks were given by Eastern and Western Christian and Muslim international figures from the Arab world, Asia, Africa and Europe; these were not only in Arabic, but also in English, French and Italian.
- Details
english.ahram.org.eg - As they look forward to Roman Catholic Pope Francis’s visit to Egypt this week, Egypt’s Catholics might also be pleased by the public attention now being given to their history
It was sometime around the mid-1940s that Christine used to frequent the offices of her father Louis in downtown Cairo. There she would run from one room to the other and even step out of the offices to find her way into a nearby pharmaceutical business where the later famous singer Dalida was then working as a typist.
“I loved Dalida. She was very beautiful, and she would smile at me and get me to sit on her knees and to type a little on her typewriter. Those were such different times,” Christine said. She was speaking after having attended mass at the St Joseph’s Church of the Franciscan Order of Egypt.
Situated off Mohamed Farid Street in downtown Cairo, the beautiful church was built in the early 20th century after the land was offered to the Franciscan monks by the state and money was made available by a rich family belonging to the Roman Catholic Church. It was also in this very church that Christine and her two sisters were baptised six or seven decades ago.
For over 100 years, according to Father Boutros Daniel, now the priest in charge at the church, St Joseph’s had had its days of glory. “They might have dwindled a bit now, as the community has got smaller, but we are still celebrating, especially since our choir will be joining Pope Francis in the mass he will hold during his visit to Egypt that starts on Friday,” he said.