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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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CWN - Two days before his apostolic journey to Armenia, Pope Francis released a video message in which he recalled “the sufferings that are among the most terrible that humanity records”-- a reference to the Armenian Genocide.
“I come as a pilgrim, in this Jubilee Year, to draw on the ancient wisdom of your people and to steep myself the sources of your faith, which is steadfast as your famous crosses carved in stone,” the Pope said. “Your history and the events of your beloved people stir in me admiration and sorrow: admiration, for you have found in Jesus’ Cross and in your own wits, the wherewithal ever to pick yourselves up and start anew.”
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CWN - A synod of the Melkite Catholic Church has been postponed, after half of the Melkite bishops boycotted the meeting in a bid to force the resignation of Patriarch Gregory III Laham.
"I shall not resign," Patriarch Gregory declared, denouncing the boycott.
Archbishop Cyrille Bustos of Beirut has led a movement pushing for the Patriarch's resignation, saying that his leadership has weakened the Melkite Church. Archbishop Bustos and ten other prelates refused to attend this week's synod meeting, which was held in Lebanon. Without them, the meeting lacked a quorum, so the synod was postponed.
Archbishop Bustos and his allies had written to the Vatican Congregation for the Eastern Churches, urging the removal of Patriarch Gregory. But the Vatican replied that the matter should be handled by the Melkite hierarchy, acting in synod.
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CWN - Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, said in an interview with Euronews that the Holy See supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine, including Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Calling for “respect of the international legality on the territory and the borders of Ukraine,” the prelate said “that concerns everything,” including Crimea.
The prelate also commented on Europe’s migrant crisis:
We are aware that Europe is taking on an unprecedented challenge that has been jeopardizing its own nature as well as its own cohesion. The issue of the integration is a really scary one. The phenomen[on] of immigration is happening so fast that there’s not even time to grasp or assimilate it. That’s the reason why we need a great cultural effort that could help us to live together, in order to avoid that those differences that we perceive don’t become sources of conflict and contrasts. Rather, we need to turn it into an opportunity of mutual improvement.
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CWN - The bishops of the Maronite Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See, gathered recently near Beirut and rejected “all international plans” to partition Syria.
Three of Syria’s 18 Catholic dioceses and similar ecclesial structures are Maronite. Lamenting the suffering of the Syrian people, the bishops called for “a climate of freedom, democracy and respect for diversity” as an alternative to partition.
The bishops also called upon the international community to assist Lebanon, which is hosting more than two million Syrian refugees, and to “work seriously for their early return to their country.”
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CWN - A group of Jewish extremists attempted to disrupt services held by an Orthodox community on June 20 at the Cenacle, the site of the Last Supper.
Israeli police maintained a fragile peace as protesters shouted at the Orthodox worshippers, saying that the Christian prayer services were an "abomination." The Cenacle-- the upper room where the Last Supper took place-- is located in a building also revered by Jews as the Tomb of David.
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CWN - An angry mob, responding to a rumor that a new Coptic church was being constructed, attacked a Coptic Christian property owner and his brother near Alexandria, Egypt, on June 17.
With security forces reportedly watching, the mob also attacked the property owner’s brother and looted neighboring Coptic homes.
The owner, Naeem Aziz, and five other Coptic Christians were charged with “holding prayers without permission and building without permit,” according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
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