Bishops urge Christians to co-exist with Muslims in Middle East

Chiqui Guyjoco Thursday, June 23, 2016

Maronite Catholic bishops maintained that Christians must continue to co-exist with Muslims in the Middle East as extremists gradually wipe out their existence in the region.

Maronite bishops from around the world released a statement after ending their annual synod led by Cardinal Bechara Rai held June 13-17 at the patriarchal seat of Bkerke, north of Beirut.

Iraqi Christians attend a mass on Christmas at St. Joseph Chaldean church in Baghdad December 25, 2011. | REUTERS/Saad Shalash

According to Catholic News Service, the bishops rejected any notions that suggested partitioning the Middle East as a solution. Instead, they invoked Maronite Catholics in Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East, where Christianity was born, to continue to co-exist with Muslims "in a climate of freedom, democracy and respect of diversity."

According to a report by the Pew Research Centre, Christianity is the most persecuted religious group in the world. There used to be 1.5 million Christians in Iraq in 1991 but that number has since been reduced to about 300,000 in 2014. Chaldean Catholic Bishop Antoine Audo also told reporters earlier this year that the number of Christians in Aleppo, Syria had gone drastically down to about 500,000 from 1.5 million in 2011.

The state of civil war in the Middle Eastern countries has driven massive exodus of these Christians and produced the world's largest number of internally displaced people.

Not oblivious of the persecuted Christians' suffering, the bishops denounced their state of living saying that "poverty has become universal."

They also made particular mention of the serious conditions in Aleppo, declared by Franciscan priest Fr. Ibrahim Alsabagh as the place that has seen the worst of the Syrian war.

The bishops enumerated the shortage of basic essentials that make for a decent state of living, "in addition to thousands of dead and wounded, widows and the displaced."

They also decried the continued presidential vacancy in Lebanon and the negative impacts this has caused on different aspects.

While calling on the international community for adequate financial support to the millions displaced and suffering in Lebanon, the bishops announced Maronite World Youth Day in the country set on July 15-23, with the theme "Be Strong and Courageous."