GREETING OF HIS HOLINESS MAR GEWARGIS III

17 November 2016

His Holiness Pope Francis
Bishop of Rome and Pope of the Roman Catholic Church:

Fraternal Greetings in Jesus Christ, our Lord and God! Beloved and Venerab le Brother,

With hearts filled with joy and gratitude to our Lord and Savior, we greet you today in your Apostolic See. My presence here today, along with my brother prelates and the clergy comprising our delegation, is to express my sincere esteem and prayers for Your Holiness, for the first time since I assumed the archpastoral ministry of Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East.

Our meeting today as brothers will increase the joy of the Christians of Iraq and Syria, for it will be a source of spiritual joy and of encouragement, amidst their sufferings and pain, which they unite with that of Christ’s (1 Pet 4:13), and caused by the difficult and frightening circumstances in which they live and which have led many of them to leave the land of their ancestors. In these lands are found the roots of human civilization and the earliest of Christian Churches, the light of which shone upon these peoples in the second half of the first century, through the missionary activities of the blessed apostles of our Lord. In the midst of this suffering, our ancient Christian communities of the East in general, and our Assyrian Christian people in particular, continue to give witness to the Gospel of Christ, even by paying with the blood of their necks.

I recall fondly that in 1991 I met with your predecessor the late His Holiness Pope John Paul II at the Vatican after having attended a conference sponsored by Sant’Egidio at Bari. At the time, the US-led coalition was preparing to intervene militarily in Iraq, and there was great fear and anguish among our citizens that they would be victims of military strikes. I explained this situation to the late Pope, and he assured me that he was making every effort to find a way to avoid the impending military campaign. Coincidentally, after these events, I was with a high-level delegation of Iraqi Christian leaders in visiting His Holiness Pope John Paul II to apprise him about our suffering people. And when His Holiness saw me he remembered me and said to me: “I have tried everything I could in order to divert this disaster” and he added, “But these politicians don't understand us, and we don't understand them”.

As we are all aware, the fact remains that the plight of our ancient Christian communities in Iraq has caused the forced displacement of thousands of persons. Women, children and the elderly have left their homes and are continually on the move – from city to city, and from village to village, seeking safety for their lives. Therefore, Your Holiness, on behalf of the thousands of displaced Christians of Iraq and Syria and on behalf of those who have already paid with their lives and the blood of their necks for the Faith, I implore for the persistence in our fervent prayers and supplications to Almighty God to undo the pain and persecution inflicted upon them. We ought to deepen our fraternal collaboration through serious discussions and studies that diagnose the current dilemma of Christians in the Middle East.

Hence, I humbly suggest the convocation of an international gathering of all Patriarchs and Primates of the apostolic Churches in order to study and to know why and how such terrible tragedies are happening in the region. The inhabitants of these countries of the East put their hope in us in order to save them from their dreadful conditions, in the belief that whatever we ask for will be achieved.

I would like to take this precious opportunity in order to express my sincerest gratitude and thanks to Your Holiness for your countless and tireless efforts and dedication for peace, justice and reconciliation in various conflict areas worldwide. In particular, your remarks in your Easter message of 2015 and most recently at Assisi this past September, have further helped to bring to the attention of the world community the growing need for peace and the cessation of sectarian and religious violence across the globe.

My visit to Your Holiness at the Vatican also coincides with the meeting of the Joint Committee for Theological Dialogue between the Assyrian Church of the East and Roman Catholic Church. The fruits of the dialogue meetings, which were initiated in 1984 by the efforts of my late predecessor of blessed memory, Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV and your predecessor of blessed memory, the late Pope John Paul II were reaped with the signing of the Common Christological Declaration in 1994. Since that momentous step, the Joint Committee for Theological Dialogue has continued its work, aiming for the realization of the second spiritual fruit, namely, the signing of the Common Statement on Sacramental Life. It is my fervent prayer and sincere hope that this, our ecumenical journey and fraternal exchange, will continue to achieve the will of the Lord himself, “for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt 18:20).

In closing, I would like to offer my deepest gratitude for Your Holiness’ prayers and fraternal sentiments which were present with me and my Church on the occasion of my consecration and accession to the patriarchal throne and apostolic see of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. I thank Your Holiness for having sent His Eminence Cardinal Koch as your personal representative, and for the precious gift offered as a token of your love.

Again, thank you for receiving me and my delegation this morning. Remember my Church and our persecuted faithful in your fervent prayers. May the grace and peace of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, remain with you always, and strengthen your tireless efforts throughout your archpastoral ministry as Bishop of Rome.