She may be inspired by the Most High, but the initiative, if one dare say, comes this time from below: it is at the “request of many colleagues in the Episcopate” that Pope Benedict XVI has decided to convene an “Assembly for the Middle East” in October. Spiritually introduced by an excerpt from the Acts of the Apostles “The multitude of believers was of one heart and one mind” (Acts 4:32), the text nonetheless pursues an indisputably temporal purpose: “to take stock of the religious as well as social situation” of the Christians of the East. This is evidenced by this excerpt from the pastoral letter of the Catholic Patriarchs of the East that the Holy See chose to include in these “Lineamenta,” the text developed by the presynodal Council, which states and questions: “the rise of political Islam since the seventies remains a striking phenomenon affecting the region and the situation of Christians in the Arab world.” This Islam, the letter continues, “seeks to impose an Islamic way of life on Arab, Turkish, or Iranian societies and everyone living there… To this end, some do not hesitate to resort to violence.”
The challenge is solemnly stated: the “disappearance,” or even the mere “weakening of Eastern Christians,” would be “a loss for the universal Church.” One inevitably thinks of Lebanon, the only country, the document acknowledges, where “Christians are not a minority.” Notably, this tenth “Pastoral Letter on the Arab Christian Facing Contemporary Challenges” was signed by the Council of Catholic Patriarchs of the East in Bkerké, the seat, symbolic on more than one account, of the Maronite Church in the land of the Cedars. Its leader, Nasrallah Sfeir, never accepted to submit to the traditional journey of allegiance to Damascus, neither during the Syrian occupation of Lebanon nor after.
The constant oscillation of this working document between the domain of faith and the political register, with the former often feeling like a decent cover for the latter, illustrates the caution with which the Vatican wishes to approach the fate of its faithful in this sensitive region of the world. It nonetheless represents a qualitative leap—a crossing of the Rubicon that once separated God and Caesar—and confirms the general philosophy contained in the discourse of the Holy Father delivered in Regensburg. In this regard, the brief mention of the “Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories” as well as the evocation of relations with other religions, Orthodox or Protestant, should not be misleading: the “concern” expressed from the introduction of these “Lineamenta” is more clearly about “Islamic fundamentalist groups.”
The skillfulness of the approach lies in taking shelter behind the intelligence of situations and facts on the ground. Opinions that will be harder to refute than if they came exclusively from the Sovereign Pontiff: since they will rely on the realities experienced by the faithful—Christians often regarded, when not persecuted, as second-class citizens in countries where “Sharia” reigns, the conclusions of the synodal works next October will likely emphasize the point and suggest less conventional expressions. A regular of the Curia confirms: “that’s always how things happen.”
Alongside reflections on the integration of modernity, this text questions the system of confessionalism in which “religion is an element of identification that can separate one from another.” This is a hot topic since, at the same time, the Lebanese Parliament President, the Shiite Nabih Berry, is putting “deconfessionalization” of the country on the agenda, an initiative criticized by Christian circles as an attempt to counter in terms of public opinion, the omnipresence of Hezbollah’s weapons. Will the spiritual call of these “Lineamenta” to “repay evil with good” and “love one’s enemy” be heard?
