{"id":1075,"date":"2012-09-14T20:05:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-14T20:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/pope-signs-momentous-document-on-church-in-the-middle-east\/"},"modified":"2012-09-14T20:05:00","modified_gmt":"2012-09-14T20:05:00","slug":"pope-signs-momentous-document-on-church-in-the-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pope-signs-momentous-document-on-church-in-the-middle-east\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope signs momentous document on Church in the Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Beirut, Lebanon, Sep 14, 2012 \/ 02:05 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Pope Benedict XVI has signed his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Church in the Middle East, \u201cEcclesia in Medio Oriente,\u201d during the first day of his visit to Lebanon.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe Exhortation as a whole is meant to help each of the Lord\u2019s disciples to live fully and to pass on faithfully to others what he or she has become by Baptism: a child of light, sharing in God\u2019s own light, a lamp newly lit amid the troubled darkness of this world, so that the light may shine in the darkness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\tPope Benedict made his remarks during the official signing ceremony at the Melkite Greek Catholic Basilica of St. Paul in the coastal town of Harissa, Sept. 14.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe document seeks to help purify the faith from all that disfigures it, from everything that can obscure the splendor of Christ\u2019s light,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cFor communion is true fidelity to Christ, and Christian witness is the radiance of the paschal mystery which gives full meaning to the cross, exalted and glorious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe exhortation is the Pope\u2019s response to the deliberations of the Synod of Bishops of the Middle East held at the Vatican in October 2010. The topic for discussion then was \u201cThe Catholic Church in the Middle East: Communion and Witness.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

\tThe Pope, who is in the country from Sept. 14 -16, noted the providence of signing the document on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which has its origins in 4th century Jerusalem during the reign of the Roman Emperor Constantine.<\/p>\n

\tHe also reminded those present that next month is the 1700th anniversary of the appearance to Constantine of the Chi-Rho, the first two letters of Christ\u2019s name in Greek. It appeared to the emperor as a \u201cradiant in the symbolic night of his unbelief and accompanied by the words: 'In this sign you will conquer!'\u201d prior to victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge near Rome, thus paving the way for the acceptance of Christianity within the Roman Empire.<\/p>\n

\tReading the exhortation with these historic events in mind \u201cleads to renewed appreciation of the identity of each baptized person and of the Church, and is at the same time a summons to witness in and through communion,\u201d said the Pope.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cFor Christians, to exalt the cross means to be united to the totality of God\u2019s unconditional love for mankind. It means making an act of faith!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cTo exalt the cross, against the backdrop of the resurrection, means to desire to experience and to show the totality of this love. It means making an act of love!\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cTo exalt the cross means to be a committed herald of fraternal and ecclesial communion, the source of authentic Christian witness. It means making an act of hope!\u201d<\/p>\n

\tListening to Pope Benedict was a packed congregation consisting of leaders of Lebanon\u2019s 40 percent Christian community \u2013 mainly Catholic and Orthodox \u2013 along with leaders of other religions including the region\u2019s dominant faith, Islam.<\/p>\n

\tThe Pope thanked God that it was the people of the Middle East \u201cwere the first to welcome his incarnate Son\u201d but also recognized that following Jesus Christ in the region today often requires much \u201ccourage and faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThis was why, he said, the Synod Fathers were keen to reflect upon the \u201cjoys and struggles, the fears and hopes of Christ\u2019s disciples in these lands.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIn this way, the entire Church was able to hear the troubled cry and see the desperate faces of many men and women who experience grave human and material difficulties, who live amid powerful tensions in fear and uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tSuch is the way of the exultation of the cross, said the Pope, that it often requires following Christ \u201ceven in difficult and sometimes painful situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt is here and now that we are called to celebrate the victory of love over hate, forgiveness over revenge, service over domination, humility over pride, and unity over division.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tMiddle Eastern Christians, therefore, should not fear the future but, instead, should \u201cstand firm in truth and in purity of faith\u201d that results from the \u201cthe cross, exalted and glorious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cChurches of the Middle East, fear not, for the Lord is truly with you, to the close of the age!\u201d urged Pope Benedict, \u201cFear not, because the universal Church walks at your side and is humanly and spiritually close to you!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beirut, Lebanon, Sep 14, 2012 \/ 02:05 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI has signed his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Church in the Middle East, “Ecclesia in Medio Oriente,” during the first day of his visit to Lebanon.<\/p>\n

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