GREETING OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
17 November 2016
This meeting and the prayer that we will raise together to the Lord invoke the gift of peace. Indeed, we are troubled by what continues to happen in the Middle East, especially in Iraq and Syria. There, hundreds of thousands of innocent children, women and men are afflicted by the terrible violence of bloody conflicts, that nothing can justify or permit. There our Christian brothers and sisters, as well as different religious and ethnic minorities, are unfortunately accustomed to suffering great hardships every day.
In the midst of so much suffering, an end to which I implore, every day we see Christians who follow the way of the cross, meekly following in the footsteps of Jesus, joining with Him, He Who with His cross reconciled us, “by it having put to death the enmity” (Eph 2.16). These brothers and sisters are models that exhort us in every circumstance to remain with the Lord, to embrace His cross, to trust in His love. They show us that at the centre of our faith there is always the presence of Jesus, Who invites us, also in adversity, never to tire of living His message of love, reconciliation and forgiveness. This we learn from the martyrs and from the many who today, even at the cost of their life, still remain faithful to the Lord and with Him defeat evil with good (Cf. Rm 12.21). We are grateful to these brothers of ours, who impel us to follow the way of Jesus to defeat wickedness. Just as the blood of Christ, spilt out of love, reconciled and united, generating the Church, so the blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christian unity. It calls us to spend ourselves for communion with fraternal charity.
I am grateful to the Lord for the strong fraternal bonds that already exist between the Assyrian Church of the East and the Catholic Church, further strengthened by the visit of the Catholicos, and previous important steps such as the visit to the Vatican by the Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV, who signed with St John Paul II the Common Christological Declaration that made it possible to confess the same faith in the mystery of the Incarnation and opened up the path to full communion, a journey that I long to continue. In this path I confirm the commitment of the Catholic Church so that our dialogue, already so fruitful can advance. In the future it can help re-establish full harmony to our communities which are frequently in close contact already. I therefore strongly hope that the Joint Commission for theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East may help us pave the way toward that long-awaited day in which we celebrate the Sacrifice of the Lord at the same altar, as a real sign of fully restored ecclesial communion.
In the meantime we have the opportunity to take brisk steps, growing in mutual knowledge and witnessing the Gospel together. So our closeness might be the yeast for unity. We are called to work together in charity wherever possible, so that love may indicate the way of communion. In Baptism we rediscovered the foundation of the real communion between us. Catholics and Assyrians, “in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Cor 12.13) we belong to the one Body of Christ. With this certainty let us proceed, journeying together trustfully, fostering – in prayer and especially before the altar of the Lord – charity which binds everything together in perfect harmony (Col 3.14). Let us never tire of asking the Lord, the divine physician, to heal the wounds of the past with the balm of His mercy.
It will also be good for us to renew the common memory of our evangelizing activity, which is rooted in the communion of the primitive Church. From there originated the spread of the Gospel that, at the dawn of faith, reached Rome and the lands of Mesopotamia, the cradle of the most ancient civilizations, giving rise to flourishing Christian communities. The great evangelizers of those times, the saints and martyrs of every time, all co-citizens in the Jerusalem of heaven, encourage us and accompany us now in opening together fruitful paths of communion and witness.
Your Holiness, dear Brother, with joy and affection I wish to express my gratitude for your visit and for today’s gift of praying together, for each other, to invoke the protection and the custody of the Lord, asking that his merciful will be fulfilled and fraternally testified.