The Valley Catholic
Iraq’s persecuted Christians are true,
bold witnesses of Christ
By Carol Glatz
Catholic news service
VAT IC A N C I T Y (C NS) - - I raq i
Christians are true and courageous
witnesses of Christ’s message of hope,
forgiveness and love, Pope Francis said.
“The church suffers with you and is
proud of you, proud to have children
like you,” he said Sept. 3, in a greeting
to Arabic-speaking pilgrims, especially
those from Iraq.
The pope spoke in Italian, with Arabic translation, at the end of his weekly
general audience in St. Peter’s Square.
He told the pilgrims that the church
is a mother who knows how to help
her children most in need, “pick up
the child who falls, heal the sick, seek
the lost, wake up the sleeping, and also
defend her defenseless and persecuted
children.”
The pope said he wanted to assure
Iraqis, and all those helpless and persecuted, of his closeness.
“You are in the church’s heart,”
he said, as he asked God to bless and
protect them.
The church is proud of those who
persevere through such hardship, he
said, because “you are the strength and
real and authentic witness of her message of salvation, forgiveness and love.
I embrace you all, all of you!”
The pope’s words to Iraqis came after a catechesis on the maternal nature
of the church.
“We are not orphans! We have a
mom, a mother” in the church and in
Mary, he said.
“The birth of Jesus from the womb
of Mary, in fact, is the prelude to the
rebirth of every Christian in the womb
of the church,” he said.
That is why a person never becomes
a Christian on his or her own, through
his or her own efforts, but is “born and
September 9, 2014
world news
‘You are the strength and
real and authentic witness
of her message of salvation,
forgiveness & love.
15
‘iraqi Christians
are true and
courageous
witnesses of
Christ’s message
of hope,
forgiveness
and love.’
-Pope Francis
I embrace you all, all of you!’
raised in the faith inside that great body
that is the church,” said the pope.
From the moment of Baptism, when
a child is reborn a son or daughter of
the church, the church, “just like a
devoted mother, offers her children
the spiritual nourishment that fortifies and makes bountiful the Christian
life,” he said.
“We are all called to welcome with
an open mind and heart the Word of
God that the church offers every day
because this Word has the ability to
change us from within. Only the Word
of God can do this,” he said.
“And who gives us this Word of
God? The mother church! She nurses us
as children with this Word. She raises
us throughout our whole lives with this
Word” and she teaches her children
how to walk “the path of salvation”
toward Christ.
“The church exerts itself to show the
faithful the road to take to live a fruitful
life of joy and peace” in a world filled
with darkness, pain and temptation,
he said.
“The church guides us and accompanies us with the power of the Gospel
and the support of the sacraments
(which give) us the ability to defend
ourselves from evil.”
“The church has the courage of a
mother who knows she must protect
her children from the dangers that
Catholic aid agencies seek funds to help displaced iraqis
Members of the Yezidi religious minority who fled from violence in Mosul, Iraq, receive humanitarian aid Aug. 21 in Dohuk province, in the northern part of the country. Catholic relief
agencies are trying raise more money for additional aid in the region. (CNS photo/EPA)
come from Satan’s presence in the
world, in order to lead them to an encounter with Jesus,” he said.
The pope said people shouldn’t be
naive about evil and temptation, but
should “resist with the advice of their
mother, resist with the help of the
mother church because a good mother
always is by the side of her children
during hard times.”
“This is the church we all love, the
church I love! -- a mother that has in
her heart, the well-being of her children
and is willing to give her life for them.”
Christians, however, are not only
children of the church, they, too are
called to have the same maternal instinct and approach, he said.
“How often we are wimps!” he said,
when Christians avoid the duty to share
the Gospel and “this maternal courage
of the church” with others and help
generate a new life in Christ for them.
“The church isn’t just priests and us
bishops. No, it’s all of us” and everyone
is called to have the same maternal
spirit “with the sincere capacity to
welcome, forgive, give strength and
instill trust and hope. This is what a
mother does.”
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