ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS MAR DINKHA IV TO POPE FRANCIS

2 October 2014

His Holiness Pope Francis
Bishop of Rome and Pope of the Roman Catholic Church:
Fraternal greetings in Christ Jesus our Lord and God.

Beloved and Venerable Brother!

It is with profound joy and gratitude to our Lord and Savior that I personally greet Your Holiness as the Bishop of Rome, here in your own apostolic see. Our gathering today is, in essence, the fraternal embrace in Christian charity of the ancient and apostolic Churches of Rome and of Seleucia-Ctesiphon through the person of their Arch-Pastors and Fellow Ministers of the Gospel. I echo today the words of the blessed apostle St Paul befitting our gathering as brothers: “We give thanks to God always for you all, and we remember you in our prayers continually; and we call to remembrance before God the Father the works of your faith, the labor of your love, and the patience of your hope in Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:2-3).

My presence here today, along with my brother prelates and the clergy comprising our delegation, is to express in person, for the first time, my sincere prayers and esteem for Your Holiness and the profound ministry which you carry upon your shoulders. Ever since your election as the Bishop of Rome, I have not ceased to implore the blessings and divine aid of Almighty God for you and the Church over which you preside as Chief Shepherd and Minister. I have personally met and known your two venerable predecessors who presided over the See of Rome, and I am certain that Your Holiness too walks in that same spirit and love for all the Churches of Christ expressed by late Pope John Paul II, of holy memory, and of Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI. Be assured that I will continually remember you and your important ministry in my prayers and supplications before the Lord.

My visit to Your Holiness at the Vatican also coincides with the meeting of our mixed committee for theological dialogue between the Assyrian Church of the East and the Roman Catholic Church. Our journey of dialogue and pilgrimage of love began in 1984, with my first official visit to the Vatican and my meeting with your predecessor the late Pope John Paul II, of blessed memory. Since that pivotal moment, our two Churches have willfully accepted the call to dialogue and ecumenical exchange as two Sister Churches, as being an invitation coming to us from the Lord himself – he who prayed for the very unity of the Church and her faithful (cf. John 17:21). Since then, our two Churches have actively engaged in ecumenical gatherings, official dialogue meetings and fraternal exchanges on an international level.

Our common witness to the Risen Christ and to his saving Gospel is essential for the life of our two Churches, both ad intra and ad extra. To us, our witness of the Resurrection of the Lord and of the Gospel is indispensable to the very essence and nature of who we are as ‘Church,’ which is the living Body of Christ. To the world, our common witness gives credence to the Church’s divine mission to evangelize and proclaim the Good News of salvation to all men, and indeed to the entire world. It is my prayer and desire that this ecumenical pilgrimage together might continue and bear much spiritual fruit, to the greater glory of God and for the good of all his holy, catholic and apostolic Church. By this, the world will believe that the Father sent the Son for our salvation, and to have eternal life in him.

Our mutual journey in love and dialogue will help to proclaim together hope to a world that is ever-more marked by strife, suffering and violence. Never has there been a generation of humanity in greater need of Christ and his love than our world today. In the Middle East, our brothers and sisters in the faith of Christ continue to suffer on a daily basis for the sake of his holy Name. The recent atrocities committed against the indigenous people and Christians of the Nineveh Plains in Iraq, namely the Assyrians, Chaldeans and Syriacs, is a living witness that Christ is still persecuted and rejected by the world. Men of an evil will choose suffering and death, as opposed to the grace, peace and life which can only come from Christ. The civilized world today, and particularly the international community, cannot just stand by silently and allow these atrocities to be committed against the Christians and the non-Christians alike, and against all the peace-loving peoples and races in Iraq, Syria and in the Middle East at large.

Although the violence and the suffering continue, no man or woman with a morally formed conscience can allow this to happen, nor can they accept it. For our part as the Churches of Christ, we ought to stand together firmly at the side of our persecuted brethren and be a voice to the voiceless, while consistently proclaiming the moral good to peoples and nations of all religious affiliations. I would like to thank Your Holiness personally for speaking on behalf of the persecuted, and for utilizing all the ecclesiastical and diplomatic means at the disposal of the Holy See to alleviate these atrocities and to bring about justice and peace in that region of the world marked by great strife and aggression.

In conclusion, I thank Your Holiness for your warm and fraternal welcome to the Vatican. May the grace and peace of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ remain with Your Holiness always, and strengthen you as you continue to faithfully administer the See of Rome and shepherd the holy flock entrusted to your archpastoral care.

♰Khanania MAR DINKHA IV
By Grace: Catholicos-Patriarch
of the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East