Pope Francis with Cardinal Filoni (ANSA)
«In the entire Middle East, and especially today in Israel, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq There is still a need for a prophetic vision that induces peoples to hope, fraternity and peace through compliance with the rights of all, majorities and minorities; There is a need for a ‘holy year’ for everyone whose Church can only be promoter “.
It is the reflection of the Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Grand Master of the Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher and former prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples on the occasion of the International Day of Human Brotherhood CHe is celebrated on February 4th.
“The Jubilee of the Catholic Church”, writes Filoni in a reflection published on Beemagazine«He has already started and Pope Francis has dedicated it to hope. There is a place of hope that I like to remember here, because it is unknown to many (yet so important for the history of divine revelation) and also to those same peoples of the Middle East that, because of the wars, ethnic and religious divisions, They even almost forgotten it. In the spring of 2002, accompanied by some Iraqi friends, I went ‘pilgrim’ to Kafel-Al-Hilla»Says the Cardinal,” not far the remains of the ancient Babylon of the Chaldeans arise; Further south, in Al-Najaf, today lies the high spiritual authority of the Shiites, the great Ayatollah Al-Sistani, who on March 6, 2021 was visited by Pope Francis. An unforgettable moment for Shiite and Christian Muslims ».
In Kafel-Al-Hilla, the Cardinal continues, “There is an ancient synagogue with clearly visible Jewish writings, a destination for pilgrimages of Muslims and the few Christians who venture so far, but of no Jewish, since the last communities were expelled from Iraq Following the Arab-Israeli wars of the last century. There an ancient tradition indicates the existence of the tomb of Ezekiel Prophet. The place is sacred. The sepulcher is surrounded by a grate that protects it; This is a prayer site, much loved especially by Shiite women who go there to ask for help for incipient motherhood or in the final phase. Today we should add for peace, the concord between peoples and respect for everyone’s religious rights ».
For Cardinal Filoni in the Middle East, today more than ever, “There is a need to recompose the countless fractures of these peoples and of these places; He needs Jews, Christians, Skiti, Sunniti, Kurdi, Yazidi, Mandei and all the other minorities find together a civil coexistence in compliance with the rights for everyone».
The cardinal also recalls how the historic journey of Pope Francis to Iraq matured in 2021, still marked by the Covid emergency: “In the dark days of ISIS, when Mosul was occupied in the summer of 2014 and then a good part of the plain of Nineys and thousands Of Christians, Yazids and Muslims they were forced to escape looking for escape in Eastern and northern Kurdistan, the Pope conceived the idea of a trip to that region. The instability of Iraq procrastined that apostolic visit to which the concerns for Covid-19 had also been added. The pastoral visit of early March 2021 (above, an image of Pope Francis in Mosul, ed) It was a gesture of intense solidarity and hope and, in a land too many times upset by the heard, The words not only of the aforementioned Jonah in Ninive (VIII AC century), but also those of Nahum in the Assyria (VII AC) and precisely of Ezekiel in Babylon (VI century AC). Uomini of hope e Places, which in many circumstances have become a symbol of return to God and solidarity, so coveted even today in times of difficulty ».
The fraternity, concludes Filoni, “It is possible if there is the Spirit of God. If hope is not killed and gives life to a time of grace. And to encourage all this belongs first of all to the peoples and civil and religious authorities of the region and then to everyone contributes to you ».
