Pope Leo XIV denounced the “violent conflict [that] seems to be raging in the Christian East with a diabolical intensity previously unknown” and said the Christians of the West must do more to help the Christians of the East, especially those suffering in Ukraine, Gaza and other places in the Middle East.
“All of us, by virtue of our humanity,” he said, “are called upon to examine the causes of these conflicts, to identify those that are real and to attempt to resolve them. But also to reject those that are false, the result of emotional manipulation and rhetoric, and to make every effort to bring them to light. People must not die because of fake news.”
He made these remarks when addressing participants at the plenary Reunion of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches, the Holy See’s humanitarian arm for Eastern churches. The committee provides support to Catholic Oriental clergy and faithful, both in Rome and in their countries of origin, including Ukraine, Turkey, Syria, the Holy Land, Iran and Eritrea. There are about 18 million Catholics in the 23 Eastern Rite Catholic churches.
Welcoming the committee led by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, on June 26, Pope Leo noted how they viewed supporting the Eastern churches as “a mission carried out in the name of the Gospel.”
“You are sowing seeds of hope in the lands of the Christian East, which today, as never before, are devastated by wars, plundered by special interests and covered by a cloud of hatred that renders the air unbreathable and toxic,” Pope Leo said.
He encouraged them “with all my heart” to “continue to do everything possible to help these churches, so precious and so greatly afflicted.”
Recalling the history of suffering and violence that has afflicted the Eastern Catholic Churches, Pope Leo said, “Sadly too, there have also been instances of oppression and misunderstanding within the Catholic community itself, which at times failed to acknowledge and appreciate the value of traditions other than those of the West.”
“Our hearts bleed when we think of Ukraine, the tragic and inhumane situation in Gaza and the Middle East, ravaged by the spread of war,” he said.
“It is truly distressing to see the principle of ‘might makes right’ prevailing in so many situations today, all for the sake of legitimizing the pursuit of self-interest,” the pope said. “It is troubling to see that the force of international law and humanitarian law seems no longer to be binding, replaced by the alleged right to coerce others.”
“This is unworthy of our humanity, shameful for all mankind and for the leaders of nations,” Leo said.
“After centuries of history,” the pope asked, “how can anyone believe that acts of war bring about peace and not backfire on those who commit them?”
“People are beginning to realize the amount of money that ends up in the pockets of merchants of death,” he said, “money that could be used to build new hospitals and schools is instead being used to destroy those that already exist!”
Asking what Christians can do in the face of this destruction, Leo said, “First and foremost, we really need to pray. It is up to us to make every tragic news story, every newsreel that we see, a cry of intercession before God. And then to offer help, just as you do and as many others can do through you.”
Pope Leo said Christians of the West need to do more to help the Christian East by their “witness.” This requires us “to imitate Christ, who conquered evil by the love he showed on the cross” and “to show a way of reigning quite different from that of Herod and Pilate.” He recalled that Herod, “for fear of being deposed, murdered children, who even today continue to be torn apart by bombs.” He recalled that Pilate “washed his hands” and said, “We risk doing [this] every day until we arrive at the point of no return.”
He said Jesus calls his followers “to heal the wounds of history solely by the gentle power of his glorious cross, which radiates the strength of forgiveness, the hope of new beginnings, and the resolve to remain honest and transparent in a sea of corruption.”
Pope Leo thanked the Eastern Christians “who respond to evil with good” and give the world such a powerful witness. He thanked them, too, for the witness they give when they “remain in [their] lands as disciples and witnesses of Christ.”
He observed that those helping the Eastern Churches, like R.O.A.C.O., not only “see the immense sufferings caused by war and terrorism,” such as last Sunday’s terrible attack on the Church of Mar Elias in Damascus, they also see “the seeds of the Gospel taking root in the desert,” where believers “persevere by looking up to heaven, praying to God and loving their neighbors.”
He said they also experience firsthand “the grace and beauty of Eastern traditions, of liturgies that allow God to dwell in time and space, of centuries-old chants imbued with praise, glory and mystery, which raise an incessant plea for forgiveness for humanity.”
Pope Leo told the members of R.O.A.C.O., “In the dark night of conflict, you are witnesses to the light of the East.” He said he would like this “light of wisdom and salvation” to be better known throughout the Catholic church, and especially in countries where “the faith is in danger of becoming lifeless.”
He recalled that St. John Paul II said that “the church must learn once again to breathe with both lungs, the Eastern and the Western.” Leo added, “The Christian East, however, can only be preserved if it is loved, and it can only be loved if it is known.”
He called for the organization of basic courses on the Eastern Churches in seminaries, theological faculties and Catholic universities. He called on Catholics of the West to meet Eastern Catholics, who today “are no longer our distant cousins who celebrate unfamiliar rites, but our brothers and sisters who, due to forced migration, are our next-door neighbors.” He said the Eastern Catholics’ “sense of the sacred, their deep faith, confirmed by suffering, and their spirituality, redolent of the divine mysteries, can benefit the thirst for God, latent yet at the same [time] present, in the West.”
He concluded by entrusting “this shared growth in faith to the intercession of the Holy Mother of God and of the Apostles Peter and Paul, who united East and West.”
