Pope Francis receives message from Beit Jala Christians
VATICAN –" In an audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Father Ibrahim Shomali, parish priest of Beit Jala, delivered a message from the people of the city to the Holy Father relating the current suffering of Christian families in the town of Beit Jala."
Fr. Shomali emphasized to the Holy Father the extent of the Israeli oppression regarding the people of Beit Jala, through its expropriation of private lands to open roads and build settlements, including the Wall of Separation, and, more recently, the seizure of lands belonging to the Convent of Cremisan.
Fr. Shomali’s message focused on the fact that the “Palestinian people” strongly adhere to its national homeland and its fight to stay on it. However, the conservation of lands requires concrete measures to thwart any takeover attempt, and to enable the Palestinian people to live with dignity in a free State.
Pope Francis receives message from Beit Jala Christians | Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
Is the Pope going to stand up for his people or is he going to wimp out?
Let me know if you hear something.
The Pope can't say anything against Islam, the last time he did, Muslims burned down a few European cities. Besides it's Muslims that are the immediate danger to Christians:
Pope Francis: ‘We Won’t Resign Ourselves to a Middle East Without Christians’
November 22, 2013 - 4:23 AM
(CNSNews.com) – Pope Francis expressed new concern Thursday for the situation faced by “Christians who suffer in a particularly severe way the consequences of tensions and conflicts in many parts of the Middle East.”
“Syria, Iraq, Egypt and other areas of the Holy Land sometimes overflow with tears,” he told a gathering at the Vatican of leaders from Eastern rite churches that have links with the Roman Catholic Church.
“We won’t resign ourselves to a Middle East without Christians who for two thousand years confess the name of Jesus, as full citizens in social, cultural and religious life of the nations to which they belong,” he said.
The pope appealed for “everyone’s right to a dignified life and to freely profess their faith [to] be respected.”
Pope Francis’ comments drew attention to the plight of minority Christians targeted by Muslim extremists across the Middle East, especially in the three countries he mentioned.
An exodus of Christians from Iraq over past decade has slashed the size of a community comprising Chaldeans, Syrian Catholics, Assyrians, evangelicals and others, prompting fears that its presence there could become extinct.
The 2011 ousting of the Mubarak regime worsened an already difficult situation for Egypt’s Coptic minority, which faced a surge of violence this year at the hands of Islamists angered by the military’s removal of the Muslim Brotherhood administration.
In Syria’s civil war, the mostly Greek, Armenian and Syriac Orthodox Christians are facing an crisis of unprecedented proportions, caught between the warring parties and specifically targeted by radical Islamists among the anti-Assad rebels.
- See more at:
Pope Francis: ?We Won?t Resign Ourselves to a Middle East Without Christians? | CNS News
