Pope Francis denounced the “murderous” indifference and silence of the world in the face of ongoing tragedy in the Middle East.
The Pope made the comments on Saturday at a gathering – for prayer and reflection – of the leaders of 19 Christian Catholic and Orthodox churches and communities in the Middle East in the Italian port city of Bari.
“Indifference,” Vatican News reported the Pope saying, “kills and we desire to lift up our voices in opposition to this murderous indifference”.
“We want to give a voice to those who have none, to those who can only swallow their tears. For the Middle East today is weeping, suffering and silent as others trample upon those lands in search of power or riches.”
The Pope said that “amid the complicit silence of many”, the region had in recent years been covered by “dark clouds of war, violence and destruction, instances of occupation and varieties of fundamentalism, forced migration and neglect.”
He said the Middle East had become “a land of people who leave their own lands behind” and warned there is the risk that the “presence of our brothers and sisters in the faith will disappear, disfiguring the very face of the region”. He added that “a Middle East without Christians would not be the Middle East.”
The Pope also called for an end to the exploitation of the Middle East.
“Let there be an end to using the Middle East for gains that have nothing to do with the Middle East…Enough of the thirst for profit that surreptitiously exploits oil and gas fields without regard for our common home, with no scruples about the fact that the energy market now dictates the law of coexistence among peoples.”
