Patriarch Louis Raphaël I Sako, head of the Chaldean Catholic church in Iraq said: “Iraqi Christians, along with other minorities, have received a fatal blow at the core of their lives and existence, whether through displacing more than 100,000 Christians by force, or looting their possessions, money, and documents, or occupying their houses.
“On the other hand, the flow of funds, arms and fighters continues to the Islamic State. Despite the fact that we are living an organised campaign of elimination from Iraq, the world conscience is not fully awake to gravity of the situation. Now, the second phase of the calamity has already began, which is the migration of these families to the different parts of the world, thus dissolving the history, heritage, and identity of these people into [the] void.
“We need urgent and effective international support to save the Christians and Yezidis, genuine components of Iraqi society, from extinction. Silence and passivity will encourage Isis fundamentalists to commit more tragedies. The question is who will be the next.”
Pope to visit Sri Lanka
Pope Francis will travel to Sri Lanka in January. The programme of his visit has not been finalised but Francis will become the first Pope to visit the territory occupied by the Tamil people, who accuse the Singalese majority of discrimination.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo, said Pope Francis will visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu. The shrine became a symbol for religious unity and was supposed to remain a ‘free zone’ during the war, but was shelled several times. The shrine lies in the heart of what was the conflict zone during the civil war.
The Pope’s visit will direct the attention of the world on the victims of the war and on the ongoing human rights abuses and humiliating conditions the Tamils still live in.
No immunity for disgraced nuncio
The Vatican denied reports that it was protecting former nuncio to the Dominican Republic Josef Woesolowski, who has been laicised. Fr Federico Lombardi, director of Holy See press office, said Wesolowski – following charges and a guilty verdict of sexual misconduct – has been removed from his post as nuncio, and thus no longer has diplomatic immunity. Fr Lomdardi added that the former nuncio may “be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him” in the Dominican Republic.
Although there is no extradition treaty between the Vatican and the Dominican Republic, Vatican officials in September expressed their willingness to hand over Wesolowski to civil authorities in the Dominican Republic.
Fr Lombardi added that the case is one that Pope Francis “wishes to address justly and rigorously”.
Papal message for Christian movement
The Pope has asked the leaders and participants in a meeting of the Christian movement Communion and Liberation to focus on two points. In a message delivered through Cardinal Parolin, Pope Francis invited everyone “to never lose contact with reality; or rather, to be lovers of reality”. In a culture that gives pride of place to appearance, “the challenge is to choose and to love” what is real.
The second point was to always keep their gaze on the essentials. “The most serious problems arise when the Christian message comes to be identified with secondary aspects that do not express the heart of the proclamation” of the Gospel.
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)