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Last Updated: 28 July 2016

CWN - As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continued his crackdown, assuming unprecedented powers through a state of emergency and suspending adherence to a human rights treaty, one of the nation’s bishops said that Catholics are safe because they stay out of politics.

“All the current difficulties are linked to political events, and we don’t touch such issues or take any part in demonstrations,” Bishop Rubén Tierrablanca Gonzalez told Catholic News Service. “Thanks to this, our Church’s members are safe.”

In April, the 63-year-old Franciscan, who hails from Mexico and ministered in El Paso, Rome, and Turkey, was named the Latin-rite apostolic vicar of Istanbul and apostolic administrator of the nation’s Greek Catholics. A curial prelate, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, ordained him a bishop on June 11.

“Of course, we’re not happy about what’s happened, but we’ll continue to encourage and support our faithful,” Bishop Tierrablanca added. “We hope the situation will improve without bringing us further troubles, but there are problems here which can’t be tackled in a short time.”

Turkey is 99.8% Sunni Muslim, and only 47,000 of the nation’s 75 million people are Catholic.

References:

• Turkey’s Catholics watchful during crackdown after failed coup (CNS)
• Turkey suspends European Convention on Human Rights amid fears of further crackdown (The Telegraph)
• Turkey coup attempt: State of emergency announced (BBC)

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Last Updated: 28 July 2016

CWN - Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople left Turkey just hours before the abortive coup this past weekend, prompting rumors that he had been warned of the attempt of oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But a spokesman said that the Patriarch's travel plans-- to Slovenia, for a vacation-- had been set weeks in advance.

Patriarch Bartholomew heard about the attempted coup soon after arriving in Slovenia, and attempted to fly home immediately. But he could not return, because the would-be rebels had closed Ataturk airport in Istanbul. 

The Interfax news agency in Russia has carried reports of the Orthodox Patriarch's last-minute departure from Turkey, along with the explanation from the Constantinople patriarchate. The Russian Orthodox Church, which has vied with the Constantinople patriarchate for leadership of the world's Orthodox churches, may take a special interest in criticism of Patriarch Bartholomew. 

References:

• Constantinople calls it coincidence that Patriarch Bartholomew left Turkey a few hours before the attempted coup (Interfax)

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Last Updated: 28 July 2016

CWN - On a single day last week, 250 rockets rained down on the largely Christian quarter of west Aleppo, which is controlled by the Assad regime.

In west Aleppo, Christians “at least have the right to live and the right to believe in our faith,” Father Ibrahim Alsabagh, a Franciscan friar, told Aid to the Church in Need—with the situation far different in rebel-held areas.

With Aleppo now experiencing “the worst moments in its history,” and prayers and cries of despair filling the air in his neighborhood, the priest appealed to the West to close the border from Turkey to Syria, “through which the weapons, food, and fighters” pass to support the rebels.

“Anyone who shoots rockets at residential houses, churches, schools, and hospitals is not a ‘moderate rebel,’” he added.

References:

• Priest in Aleppo: situation is growing more hopeless (Aid to the Church in Need)

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Last Updated: 28 July 2016

CWN - In an interview with La Repubblica, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew discussed the recent Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church and said that those who wish to interrupt dialogue with other Christians are “particularly pleasing” to the devil.

“The Orthodox Church, for its part, has faith in God and with optimism will continue the theological dialogues, especially with the sister Roman Catholic Church,” he said. “We believe that in the coming years there will be significant progress.”

References:

• Bartholomeos I (La Repubblica)

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Last Updated: 28 July 2016

CWN - The recent Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church was not a pan-Orthodox council, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church has said.

The Russian Orthodox Church—the largest of the 14 autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches—was one of four Orthodox churches that chose not to attend the council in the weeks preceding its opening.

“The Holy Synod determined that the Council, which took place in Crete, cannot be regarded as pan-Orthodox, and the documents it approved as expressing a pan-Orthodox consensus,” said Vladimir Legoyda, spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church.

At the same time, Legoyda described the council as “an important event in the history of the Orthodox Church council process” and that the Russian church’s biblical and theological commission will study its documents.

References:

• Russian Orthodox Church Synod rejects pan-Orthodox status of Crete Council (Interfax)

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Last Updated: 18 July 2016

CWN - In an interview with a California-based magazine, an Iraqi bishop deplored the situation of Christians who fled the Islamic State and now live in refugee camps.

“The situation for these refugees is very, very bad,” said Bishop Shlemon Warduni, a curial bishop of the Chaldean Catholic patriarchate and, since May, apostolic administrator of the Chaldean eparchy of San Diego. “At home in Iraq, they had homes. They had jobs. But now they have almost nothing.”

He added:

Presidents, ministries, they talk, but in reality what have they done? Those whom made it out of Iraq [to refugee camps], they don’t even give them exit visas; some have no food. For this I cry, I supplicate, I pray for everyone to do something.

References:

• EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: BISHOP WARDUNI SPEAKS OUT ON PLIGHT OF CHALDEANS AROUND THE WORLD (East County Magazine)