Patriarch Youssef
Speech of H.B. at Symposium “Europe-East: Dialogue with Islam”
Senate of the French Republic
Paris, 12 July 2007
Symposium “Europe-East: Dialogue with Islam”
Speech of H.B. Gregorios III (Laham),
Patriarch (Melkite Greek Catholic) of Antioch and all the East,
of Alexandria and of Jerusalem
The situation of Christians in countries with a Muslim majority, and particularly in Syria
1. Overview of the Christian presence in the Middle East
This is a general description, with approximate statistics.
In the Lebanon, it is said that 40% of the population, or between 1,500,000 and 2 million people are Christian, principally Maronite (Catholic) and, in decreasing order, Greek Orthodox, Syrian (Catholic and Orthodox), Armenian (Orthodox and Catholic), etc.
For Syria there may be (for there are no reliable statistics) about 10% of the population, some 1,500,000 to 1,700,000, who are Christian, principally Greek Orthodox, Melkite Greek Catholic, Syrian Orthodox and Catholic, as well as Armenian (Orthodox and Catholic), Chaldean (Catholic), Latin, etc.
In Jordan, the figure is given of 150,000 to 200,000, principally Greek Orthodox, Christians.
In Palestine and Israel, there are some 150,000 Christians, of whom the largest denomination is Melkite Greek Catholic (67,000), followed by Greek Orthodox, Latin Catholic, and Armenian Orthodox.
For Egypt, there may be about 10 million Christians, mostly Coptic Orthodox, with strong minorities of Coptic Catholics, Greek Orthodox and Melkite Greek Catholics.
In Sudan, according to the Vatican’s figures, there are 4,900,000 Latin Catholics; there are also Coptic Orthodox, Greek Orthodox and Melkite Greek Catholics.
In Iraq, before the war, there were about 700,000 Christians, especially Chaldean (Catholic) and Assyrian (Orthodox); now we do not know how many are left; in any case, fewer than 500,000.
In Kuwait, there are 250,000 Latin Catholics, mostly from India and the Philippines. There are also Syro-Malabar Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Maronites, a thousand Melkite Greek Catholics, etc.
In the rest of the Arabian Peninsula (the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen and Saudi Arabia), there are, according to the Vatican, 1,500,000 Catholics, both Latin (coming mainly from India and the Philippines) and Syro-Malabar (also from India).
So in all these countries, there may be about 15 million Christians, plus some five million in Sudan.
2. Religious Freedom (freedom to worship)
This freedom may be said to be assured, in general and to different degrees, in all Arab countries, except in Saudi Arabia.
Recently, I wrote to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, emphasising that there are churches now everywhere throughout the world, and asking him why there are not any in his Kingdom.
3. Freedom of conscience
We are working, in all these countries, including Syria, for the freedom to change religion to be recognized.
This freedom is already guaranteed in Lebanon. In Syria, it is not officially forbidden. But it does not exist in the other Arab countries of the region.
4. Personal statute
This is a legal situation with very ancient roots, going back to the beginnings of Islam, although the pacts attributed in various sources to Muhammad are of doubtful authenticity.
Under Ottoman Turkish domination, this gave rise to the “millet” system. During the period of the French mandate in Lebanon and Syria, and of the British mandate in Palestine, Jordan and Iraq, the juridical notion of the personal statute developed.
In Syria, I am happy to say that, in May 2006, we have acquired a new personal statute for all Catholic (Eastern and Latin) Churches found in the country, Law 31, concerning mainly, marriage, the family in general, betrothals, legitimacy of children, adoption, parental authority, custody of the children in case of separation, wills, church property, ecclesiastical tribunals, etc.
It is interesting to note that the legislator – the law was promulgated by a decree of the President of the Republic, Dr. Bashar al-Assad – took into account the canon laws currently in force in our Churches, i.e. the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1990, whose norms are quoted word for word, so making them his own.
Here will be found a note indicative of the new features of this Syrian law of personal statute.
What is meant by religious freedom?
In these countries, in general, religious freedom concerns:
a) The building of churches – There is everywhere (always excepting Saudi Arabia) the possibility of building churches, with a greater or lesser number of administrative conditions. There are no problems in Lebanon. Neither are there in Syria; moreover, when there is a newly built up area whose inhabitants include Christians, the State provides, besides the land designated for the building of a mosque, a site for the construction of a church.
b) Religious education– This is ensured, for Christian students, in all Arab countries (except Saudi Arabia), with a greater or lesser number of problems, in state and private schools. In nearly all these countries, catechetical books are published at the State’s expense and edited by inter-communitarian committees. In Syria, we have had such books for about the last forty years; they are prepared by representatives of all Churches, Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant, for all primary and secondary school classes; new editions are being prepared, according to very open criteria about the different Churches and about Islam, with, significantly, an invitation to mutual respect between Muslims and Christians.
Christian religious doctrine is an optional theme for the Baccalaureate in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine. Teachers of Religious Education are nominated by the Minister of Education. In Lebanon and Syria, we have begun training courses specifically for teachers of religion within the context of our religious education centres for laypersons. To extend this education, especially in Syria, (following the government’s taking control of faith schools), we hold catechetical classes within the framework of our parish centres, and we also have brochures, reviews and monthly or weekly periodicals, explaining Sunday liturgies, dogmas, sacraments, spirituality, etc. There are also Christian religious books, printed in Syria with government authorization or imported, mainly from Lebanon, in Arabic and other languages.
c) Religion in the news – News from the Churches is published sometimes in the press, on the radio and on television, especially at the time of the Great Feasts (Christmas and Easter), with a frequency that varies from country to country (nearly every day in Lebanon, less in the other countries). Mass is broadcast on television weekly in Lebanon and in Jordan, on Syrian radio for the Great Feasts (Syrian television has only broadcast Mass twice: that celebrated on 6 May, 2001, by Pope John Paul II in Damascus, and that of his funeral in Rome on 8 April, 2005; for Christmas and Easter, it gives short bulletins about the celebrations of the different Churches and the good wishes presented to their Hierarchs in the name of the Head of State; on 25 December 2006, President Bashar al-Assad presented his good wishes in person on a visit to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate).
In Lebanon, there are two Christian television channels, broadcasting 24 hours a day, whose programmes are very peaceable and open, helping Christians understand their faith better; these programmes are also watched by Muslim viewers.
6. The relations of the Holy See with Arab and Muslim countries
We have given in an appendix a list of the dates of establishment of these relations since 1947.
7. Centres of Islamic-Christian dialogue
They exist in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan and Egypt. These centres – of which the most recent are “Al-Liqa” centres created by the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate in Syria, Lebanon and Egypt – undertake different activities (meetings, talks and conferences), attended by Christians and Muslims. There are also a good many books, published in Lebanon and elsewhere, on the subject of Islamic-Christian dialogue, written in Arabic by Christian or Muslim authors, or translated from other languages. In Syria, there is a Muslim review, of Shi’ite adherence, Al-Maarij, whose editorial committee includes well-known Christians, that frequently publishes articles by Christian authors (including the one talking to you), and which has published special numbers on such themes as the Virgin Mary and Pope John Paul II.
On the other hand, it should not be forgotten that contact between Muslims and Christians is continual, from schools, to work-places and in the street.
We must also mention here the very many Christian institutions that are at the service of all, including Muslims. Limiting my remarks to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, I would like to draw to your attention that we have about a hundred of these institutions in the fields of education, culture and social care (schools, clinics, hospitals, centres for the disabled, etc.).
It is the business of the Leaders of the Christian Churches to make their faithful aware of the role of their presence in the Muslim Arab world. That was the substance of my message of Christmas 2006: “Peace, Living Together and the Christian Presence in the Arab Middle East.”
8. Civic and socio-political aspect of the Christian presence in the Middle East
In nearly all Arab countries, there are Christian ministers and members of Parliament, especially in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Palestine, but also in Iraq, in Egypt (and in Israel), sometimes according to a fixed quota or proportion, particularly in Lebanon (according to the rules of the Constitution) and in Palestine.
If there is discrimination in fact, it is rather for other political and administrative responsibilities, in job opportunities, access to professorial posts at universities, in business; it is rather a socio-economic phenomenon than a socio-religious one.
We cannot talk, at the moment, about persecution in Muslim Arab countries. But there are, here and there, and nowadays, most dramatically in Iraq, tensions, principally due to the development and increase of Islamic fundamentalism in the wake of 11 September, 2001, the war in Afghanistan and above all, the war in Iraq, and also, because of the much older Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
This fundamentalism is not in itself anti-Christian, but it has negative consequences for the Christian presence in these countries, since its psychological pressure adds to the “physical” and social pressure, represented by the fact that the majority of the population is Muslim.
Each time there has been a crisis, since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, or a war, there has been a new wave of emigration of Christians who felt very uneasy, without a future or political weight, with a shrinking population, more and more in the minority. More than discrimination, it is a matter of pressure fuelling fear.
9. Role and Mission
Faced with the tide of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism, the Christians of the Middle East should reflect more deeply on their role and mission. Revenge is not a good response. Tolerance is not enough. Neither is the ghetto a solution. The real solution is for Christians to become aware of the role that is theirs in this Arab world with its Muslim majority, of the mission that they have to fulfil, on the social, cultural, political, religious and other levels – the role that they have had, and carried out for the last 1400 years, of living together with Islam, especially in the Arab world.
If it came to it that the Arab world were to be void of the Christian presence, there would ensue the disappearance of living together and the radicalisation of the Arab world, by then exclusively Muslim, over against the Western (European and American) world, called “Christian” (though in fact rather secular). Any occasion would then do as a pretext for a conflict to break out between Muslims and Christians, between Islam and Christianity, the West (including Europe) and the Arab world (then equivalent to the land of Islam), the more so as Europe and America, as supporters of Israel, are for that reason considered as the enemies of Arabs and Muslims.
That is why we must do everything to preserve the Christian presence in the Middle East, a presence of sincere witness and service, based on the role of partners that Christians have had in the history of the region, and that they must still have today in Arab society. That is what I have tried my best to explain in my messages of Christmas, 2004, 2005 and especially 2006. You can read them in Arabic, French and English on the website of the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate: www.pgc-lb.org
In order to express this profound reality, I have used the terms “Church of the Arabs,” and “Church of Islam” - which have provoked some reservations in certain quarters, but I consider them accurate. In my message of Christmas 2004, “Emmanuel, God with us,” I wrote on this subject:
“The most important thing is not to affirm that the Church is Arab, but rather that the Church has a mission in the Arab world and society. In fact, this Arab world in which the Church lives, in which it is planted as in its own soil, sealed into the depths of its history and geography, is in its vast majority the world of Islam (…) This Church of the Arabs, this Church of the Arab world and society is a Church of Islam, of Muslim society, a Church that lives with the Arab and Islamic world (...) When we say Church of Islam, we mean by that that it is a society of Christian faithful, who excel in their relations with Muslims (…) The Church of Islam is a Church which, in its history, past and present, and in its culture, is profoundly and intimately linked with Islam and Muslims.”
Translation from the French: V. Chamberlain
Dates of the establishment of diplomatic relations
between the Holy See and the member countries of the League of Arab States
and/or of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference
1 March 1947: Lebanon
1 April 1947: Egypt
28 February 1950: Indonesia
6 October 1951: Pakistan
21 February 1953: Syria
2 May 1953: Iran
25 January 1960: Turkey
26 August 1966: Iraq
21 October 1968: Kuwait
20 July 1971: Niger
6 March 1972: Algeria
22 March 1972: Tunisia
29 April 1972: Sudan
26 September 1972: Bangladesh
14 June 1973: Burkina Faso (then Upper Volta)
20 November 1975: Nigeria
15 January 1976: Morocco
29 October 1979: Mali
28 November 1988: Chad
23 May 1992: Azerbaijan
27 August 1992: Kyrgyzstan
17 October 1992: Kazakhstan
17 October 1992: Uzbekistan
3 March 1994: Jordan
19 June 1996: Tadzhikistan
10 July 1996: Turkmenistan
10 March 1997: Libya
12 October 1998: Yemen
12 January 2000: Bahrain
20 May 2000: Djibouti
19 November 2002: Qatar
31 May 2007: United Arab Emirates
Special relations
6 November 1995: Palestine (Representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization accredited to the Holy See with diplomatic status; the Apostolic Delegate to Jerusalem is accredited as Diplomatic Representative of the Holy See to the Palestinian Authority)
8 January 2000: League of Arab States (The Apostolic Nuncio in Cairo is also Delegate of the Holy See to the League of Arab States, which has a Representative to the Holy See with diplomatic status)