Thursday, January 6, 2011

Bagnasco: astonished to intolerance "Europe speaks against persecution"

GENOA - "Together with the Holy Father Benedict XVI in front of astonished us so much violence and religious intolerance, sorrow and wonder why?". These are the words of the Archbishop of Genoa and president of CEI, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, delivered this morning during the homily for the Mass of the Epiphany in the cathedral of San Lorenzo.

It is not a "rhetorical question and does not hide any desire for revenge," said the cardinal, but "it is sincere and comes from the blood of many Christians, their sufferings" and "gives question to the thrill that comes up from many parts of the earth because ?. The head of the bishops therefore calls for action by the EU: "The international community, starting with Europe, makes you feel a strong voice and a clear word that the right to freedom of religion is observed everywhere without exception." For the faithful, Bagnasco calls instead of being "missionaries of the Gospel" because "it is not being arrogant but bright." "The example of our brothers in faith, and that might give their lives to Jesus and the Church will shake the torpor of the easy things, always lukewarm to the door, the ease of following the sluggish current of the world." Finally, the cardinal urged Christians to pray for their persecutors, because it opened my eyes to the light.

" "We pray for the souls of the dead to their relatives in pain, for all Christians who in many regions of the world give us an example" because "we can not, we will not remain indifferent." If the Cardinal Bagnasco calls for prayers for the perpetrators of violence against Christian communities in the world, the Arab religious leaders are preparing to throw them against a fatwa, a decree condemning the attacks against churches, comparable in gravity to attacks against Muslims and mosques.

The approval will take place over the next few days in Lebanon, as he explains in an interview with the Giornale Radio Rai secretary general of the Islamic Spiritual Summit, Mohhamad Sammak, which also was a leader of Muslims have taken the last Synod to the Middle East held at the Vatican.

"The agreement on the text already there," adds Sammak, explaining that the meeting also will take part in the famous center of Islamic studies in Cairo, Al Azhar. For Sammak, this is the answer to the extremists of Islam "who attack Christians because they do not differentiate between the West and Christianity and found to conflict with the West attacked the Christians when they are not able to perpetrate their actions directly against ' West.

" From Cairo, however, returns to speak directly to the Great Benedict XVI Tayeeb Ahmed Al Imam, the spiritual leader of the mosque of Al Azhar, hoping that "the Pope sent a message of peace to Muslims" after the massacre against the Coptic Church of Alexandria Two Saints. At Tayeeb, in an interview with Corriere della Sera, says he hopes Pope Benedict XVI in a message to the Islamic world "which could restore the bridges of trust and to dispel the origins of misunderstandings." Al Tayyeb was critical of the Pope after the Angelus of Sunday, January 2, when Benedict XVI deplored the ongoing persecution against Christians in the Middle East, criticized for not having used the same tones for the massacres of Muslims in Iraq.

Today in Great Imam states: "The Christians of the East are an essential component of their company affiliation and source of wealth of the Eastern civilization and the Arab-Islamic tradition. Their protection and safety are guaranteed by their rights as citizens." Al Tayyeb, then, the attacks against Christians are "terrorist actions" not only directed against them, "but against the whole of Egypt, with the aim of destabilizing the country and undermining its security and national unity ".

The Grand Imam considers "religious freedom, ethnic and cultural diversity is a divine law, God created man free to choose and free to decide according to conscience. Consequently, it is up to us, God's creatures, our fellow humans to impose one religion or one way of life. "Finally, Al Tayyeb is convinced that relations between Muslims and Christians in Egypt normalizzareanno quickly.

"These attacks have awakened the collective conscience against common dangers."

No comments:

Post a Comment