OC

The Chaldean patriarchs spoke to AsiaNews about the pope emeritus who died this morning. A "man of God” with a "luminous" face, one day he will be proclaimed "doctor for what he has left". He had a bond of "deep closeness" with the Muslim world. He supported the synod on the Middle East in 2010.

The Holy Synod said on Thursday they will elect the new Archbishop out of the triumvirate on Christmas Eve.
Speaking to the media after a meeting of the Holy Synod, Paphos bishop Georgios, the caretaker of the throne, said the members of the Holy Synod will decide among the three who gathered the highest number of votes by the public on Sunday.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky urges his people to celebrate the birth of Jesus despite Russian attacks devastating his wartorn nation. His appeal comes as many Ukrainians celebrate Christmas in bomb shelters.

Vatican City, Dec 25, 2022 / 05:00 am

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has been actively engaged since 2017 with the churches and different religious leaders in Iraq to promote social cohesion as a means towards sustainable peace.

Pope Francis has recognized the martyrdom of a married couple with seven children who were killed by the Nazis for hiding a Jewish family in their home in Poland.

Atchaneh (Agenzia Fides) - An unprecedented and in some respects historic meeting between the leaders of the Churches of the Syriac tradition, to discuss and reflect together on the emergencies and problems faced by Christian communities in the Middle East, in the light of the common spiritual heritage and of the teaching of the Fathers of the Church. This is the only ecclesial meeting convened today, Friday, December 16, at Atchaneh (Lebanon), at the headquarters of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate. The meeting, convened by the Syriac-Orthodox Patriarch Mar Ignatius Aphrem II, sees the participation, among others, of the Syriac-Catholic Patriarch Ignace Youssif III Younan, the Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Raï, the Assyrian Patriarch Mar Awa III and the Chaldean Patriarch Luis Raphael Sako. 

On December 16 the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Bulgarian Patriarchate posted the results of its meeting on December 13. The results are as follows:

Jerusalem (Agenzia Fides) - On December 13th, 2022, the Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land (ACOHL) organized a conference for the launching of two new offices: the Safeguarding Office & the Professional Legal Office, which aim to provide support and advice to the Catholic Church in the Holy Land. The conference, which included opening speeches by His Beatitude Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Mgr Adolfo Tito Yllana, Apostolic Nuncio of the Holy Land, was meant to present the purpose of these offices to the religious congregations and institutes of the Holy Land. 

Some 20 organisations urge the Bishops’ Conference to boycott government Christmas celebrations. They call for protest over the failure to find the truth about the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings. They want the authorities to pursue an impartial investigation and help survivors if they truly care about Catholics.

In his message for the observance the Church celebrates on 1 January, the pontiff speaks about the latest Covid-19 wave in light of the global consequences of the war in Ukraine. For him, “the virus of war is more difficult to overcome than the viruses that compromise our bodies, because it comes, not from outside of us, but from within the human heart corrupted by sin”.

In this preview of an interview Pope Francis has given to the Spanish daily ABC, the Pope responds to a variety of questions regarding what he would like for Christmas, memories of his homeland of Argentina, and his wish to be close to the people even though his institutional role can make that difficult. The full interview will be published on Sunday, 18 December.

Just 1500 steps from the grotto where Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the Order of Malta’s Holy Family Hospital continues to provide excellent care to mothers and babies of all creeds and needs. As Christmas approaches in this holy place, the Hospital prepares to deliver its 100,000th baby!

Ukrainian foreign minister says Russian Orthodox Church has 'betrayed God'

Leggi su www.ncronline.org

By Sophie Peeters

By Stefan J. Bos & Devin Watkins

By Deborah Castellano Lubov   --   Kazakhstan

By Benedict Mayaki, SJ

Moscow, September 12, Interfax - The Latvian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has given a reserved response to the Latvian parliament's decision to "grant' autocephaly to it.

"The government has established the status of our Church as autocephalous. The government has established that the Latvian Orthodox Church is de jure independent from any church center outside Latvia, while preserving spiritual, prayer and liturgical communion with all canonical Orthodox Churches of the world. The changed status does not alter the Orthodox faith, dogmas, the liturgical life of the Church, the calendar style, the sacred liturgical language, rites, traditions, and inner church life," the church press service said.

The Synod of the Latvian Orthodox Church "lovingly calls on the clergy and laity to maintain a peaceful disposition of the spirit" and the unity of the Church, strictly observing the laws of Latvia," it said.

read more

Idlib (Agenzia Fides) - Mass was celebrated in a church that had been closed for ten years. This happened in the province of Idlib, in an area still controlled by the anti-Assad Islamist militias. Permission to re-open the Christian place of worship and celebrate the Eucharistic liturgy in a serene and festive atmosphere was the same head of the jihadist faction that, in past years, had seized property and the houses of Christians as "spoils of war".
This event is emblematic of the real situation experienced by the Christian communities in this region of Syria.

read more

“Yes, we have problems in our country, yes, we have conflict, but we have Jesus Christ. We have a unique culture which we want to keep alive.”

In a time when the Orthodox Christian world is broken by schism—the schism over Ukraine being merely the most ulcerous—the recent death of Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia (1934-2022) is perhaps one of only a few events that has managed to briefly unite the Orthodox world in a “bright sadness.” Memorial services were held by both Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the Phanar and at his death bed by prominent figures in the Russian Church (Moscow Patriarchate [MP]) who were his former students (Metropolitan Hilarion [Alfeyev] of Budapest and Hungary [MP] and Bishop Irenei [Steenberg] of London [ROCOR-MP]). Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira and Great Britain, the Exarch or Representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch in the United Kingdom, followed Metropolitan Kallistos’ sickness closely and visited him repeatedly in his last years. With great pastoral discernment, Archbishop Nikitas quietly cooperated over a long period with local representatives of the Oxford Russian Parish and his own Oxford Greek Orthodox parish in planning the logistics of the memorials, liturgy, funeral, and interment in Oxford with the intention of emphasizing the Pan-Orthodoxy of the Metropolitan.

read more

In Spain the war on crosses, accused of 'Francoism', is relentless. Numerous crosses scattered around the country are all found guilty of having been erected at the behest of Francisco Franco, and therefore inevitably bearers of apologia for the regime. Starting with the enormous one (150 metres high) in the Valle de los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen), located in the Cuelgamuros valley. The complex, located 60 km from Madrid, and wanted by Franco, also includes a Benedictine abbey and contains the remains of the fallen (from both sides) of the Spanish Civil War.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Millions of Shiite Muslims — from Iran to Afghanistan and Pakistan — were marking the festival of Ashoura on Monday, one of the most emotional occasions in their religious calendar, commemorating the 7th century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Hussein.

VATICAN CITY: A new Catholic cathedral in Bahrain, Our Lady of Arabia, will be consecrated on Dec. 10 by the prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle.

Le patriarche maronite, le cardinal Béchara Raï, a vivement dénoncé les polémiques enregistrées ces derniers jours (entre le Premier ministre désigné Nagib Mikati et le chef du Courant patriotique libre Gebran Bassile, NDLR), soulignant que de telles polémiques visent à "torpiller la formation d’un nouveau gouvernement et à court-circuiter l’élection d’un président de la République".

As Russia’s war against Ukraine continues for a sixth month, a WCC delegation led by WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca visited Ukraine to listen to the representatives of local churches, as well as state institutions working with religious issues, and to ensure the participation of the Ukraine’s churches at the upcoming WCC assembly in Karlsruhe.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister of Ukraine thanked Archbishop Grušas, the Lithuanian people, and the Catholics of Lithuania for their support for Ukraine. He is convinced that such a visit is a sign of support and solidarity with Ukraine, especially coming from the European episcopate and all the members of the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe.

The Catholic Archbishop of Ukraine’s western city of Lviv, Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, has said it would be “a disaster if the Holy Father were first to visit Russia and only then Ukraine”. It is quite possible, he told the German Tagespost newspaper on 15 July, that “Ukraine’s frontiers would be closed to him if he arrived from Russia”. The Ukrainian people firmly believed that one must devote oneself to the victim first and only then to the perpetrator, Mokrzycki said.

read more

La convocation et la détention d’un archevêque maronite libanais par un tribunal militaire libanais à son retour d’un déplacement en Israël, a suscité mercredi l’indignation parmi la classe politique chrétienne. En sa qualité d’archevêque maronite de Haïfa et Jérusalem Moussa el-Hajj est autorisé à visiter Israël et les Territoires palestiniens, mais à l’issue de son dernier déplacement il a été détenu pendant huit heures, lundi à son retour. Puis il a été convoqué par un tribunal militaire pour un interrogatoire mercredi, ont rapporté les médias locaux. En réaction, le patriarche maronite Béchara Raï a tenu mercredi une réunion exceptionnelle avec d’autres religieux maronites, dont l’archevêque Moussa. Les prélats ont condamné son arrestation et sa convocation, qualifiées de " farce ", et ont demandé que l’affaire soit " close immédiatement ". " Nous exigeons (…) que