Vatican Aide: Christians Are Victims of Hatred

Father Lombardi Analyzes Violence in Iraq

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 28, 2010 (Zenit.org).- In many parts of the world, Christians are suffering the hatred that is generated by religious fundamentalism, says a Vatican spokesman.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, presented this analysis in his editorial on the most recent episode of "Octava Dies," a weekly Vatican Television program.

"Again, in recent days, violence against Christians has been rekindled," he explained. "Some time ago I had in my hand flyers with terrible threats that were systematically distributed in Mosul in Iraq to the houses of Christians asking them to leave the city.

"The recent brutal murders confirm the same systematic strategy against which the local authorities do not seem capable of providing effective remedies."

At least eight Christians have been killed in the last two weeks. The last murder occurred Tuesday, when an armed commando entered the home of an Assyrian Christian family, killing the father and two sons in front of his wife and daughter, whose lives were spared by the criminals.

Some 15,000 Christians remain in the Muslim-majority city of Mosul, where their families have lived for 2,000 years.

"How can the Christian communities survive in these conditions?" he asked. "And yet they are native communities, totally inserted into the culture and the local history, of which they constitute a vital component.

"It's not hatred of the West or of foreigners, but [hatred] of the Christian community."

"Today Iraq is the most well-known case, but in some regions of India anti-Christian violence continues, as in Pakistan and other countries in Asia and Africa," he said. "Religious fundamentalism generates hatred and violence, and religious minorities -- and Christianity is a minority in many parts of the world -- are suffering on account of it.

"Often one calls upon the international community to mobilize. But on the current scene in the Western world many forces are working to fight and destroy the Christian presence and its influence in the areas where it is, or was, a majority.

"Is it realistic to expect its sincere defense there where it is in the minority and does not count much from the point of view of political or economic interests?"

"Christians," Father Lombardi concluded, "who remember the fate of their Master, cannot be surprised about being persecuted, but justice and law must prevail everywhere, even for them."

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Benedict XVI Pope Reflects on Meaning of Priesthood

Concludes Annual Lenten Retreat

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 28, 2010 (Zenit.org).- During his Lenten spiritual exercises, Benedict XVI reflected on the priesthood and what it means to be a priest.

The Pope noted this Saturday at the end of the annual seven-day spiritual exercises for the Pontiff and the Roman Curia, preached by Salesian Father Enrico dal Covolo.

This year's retreat focused on "The Lessons of God and of the Church in the Priestly Vocation." This theme was chosen to reflect the Year for Priests currently under way.

"In the name of all of us present here," the Holy Father said in a brief address, "I would like to say thank you with my whole heart to you, Father Enrico, for this retreat, for the impassioned and very personal way in which you guided our path toward Christ, on path of renewal of our priesthood."

Benedict XVI recounted how the Salesian preacher chose as his "starting point, as an always present background, as destination [...] Solomon's prayer for 'a heart that hears.'"

"In truth, it seems to me that here the whole Christian vision of man is recapitulated," the Pope said. "Man is not perfect in himself, man has need of relation -- he is a being in relation.

"It is not his 'cogito' that can 'cogitare' the whole of reality. He needs to listen, to listen to the other, above all the Other -- with a capital 'O' -- who is God. Only in this way does he know himself, only in this way does he become himself."

The Pontiff noted that during the spiritual exercises, he had full view of an image of the Mother of the Redeemer, "the 'Sedes Sapietiae,' the living seat of wisdom, with Wisdom incarnate in her womb."

"St. Luke presents Mary precisely as a woman who listens from the heart," Benedict XVI explained, "who is immersed in the Word of God, who listens to the Word, who meditates (synballein) on it, composes and treasures it, who carries it in her heart."

"The Fathers of the Church say that in the moment of the conception of the eternal Word in the womb of the Virgin the Holy Spirit entered into Mary through her ear," he said. "In listening she conceived the eternal Word, she gave her flesh to this Word. And thus she tells what it means to have a heart that listens.

"Mary is surrounded here by the fathers and the mothers of the Church, by the communion of saints.

"And so we see and we have understood during these days that we cannot truly hear the Word in the isolated 'I' but only in the 'we' of the Church, in the 'we' of the communion of saints."

"And you, dear Father Enrico, have shown us, have provided a voice for five exemplary figures of the priesthood, beginning with Ignatius of Antioch and continuing to the dear and venerable Pope John Paul II," continued the Pope. "Thus we have truly again perceived what it means to be a priest, to become priests more and more.

"You have also stressed that consecration is for mission, it is destined to become mission. During these days we have penetrated our consecration more deeply with God's help.

"Thus, with new courage, we would like now to take up our mission."

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