Silent Cry of a Hero

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Silent Cry of a Hero

[2010-10-20]

[Engleză]

One of the great mysteries of this year's Synod of Bishops is the silence of Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly of Baghdad regarding the suffering of the Catholic Church in his country. In Rome this month he has been saying that things are fine in Iraq. But this is in contrast with his own statements in the past. Why the change?

By Robert Moynihan, reporting from Rome

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(Note: Inside the Vatican magazine will organize a small pilgrimage, limited to 12 people, to visit the Vatican and attend the consistory. See below for further details.)

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'The terrorists have destroyed the most beautiful symbol of the Chaldean Church in Iraq.'—Emmanuel III Delly, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans and Primate of the Chaldean Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic sui juris particular church of the Catholic Church, and now a Cardinal, on July 12, 2004. He was then the head of some 1.5 million Chaldean Catholics in Iraq, and was speaking after the bombing to smithereens of the architecturally splendid bishop's residence in Mosul, in northern Iraq

(Photo, the courageous Cardinal Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly, 83, of Baghdad, Iraq. He leads the Chaldean Church, one of the oldest Catholic Churches in the world, dating back to the time of the Apostles. The number of his faithful inside Iraq has shrunk from about 1.5 million to less than 500,000 in the past seven years, according to officials under Delly in his Patriarchate)

“Christians are killed, chased out of their homes before the very eyes of those who are supposed to be responsible for their safety.” —Emmanuel III Delly, May 6, 2007 (three years later), speaking from the altar of the church of Mar Qardagh in Erbil, Kurdistan (northern Iraq), where he was celebrating Mass. He was then the head of fewer than 1 million Chaldean Catholics in Iraq

“The Americans came to Iraq without our consent. God does not appreciate what you have done and are doing in our country... Let us hope that the Lord enlightens these people so that they may stop violating the rights of all Iraqis.” —Emmanuel III Delly, on the same occasion

“The words spoken by His Beatitude, the Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly, moved us. The forced emigration of Christians from Iraq is terrible and not accepted either by Islam or by Christianity, or by reasonable human beings. In Iraq, there are those who want to exploit this situation to change the social structure of the country, to implement a specific plan aimed at undermining the national unity of Iraq, the cultural, religious and ethnic mosaic made up of all its citizens.” —Malankara Syriac Bishop Gregotios Yohanna Ibrahim of Aleppo, Syria, in early May, 2007, responding to Patriarch Delly's words

'I now think... of those that are most tried by suffering... Among these, how can I not turn my gaze with apprehension and affection, in this moment of joy, to the dear Christian communities of Iraq? These brothers and sisters of ours in the faith are experiencing in their own flesh the dramatic consequences of a long conflict and are living in an ever more fragile and delicate political situation. Calling the patriarch of the Chaldean Church [Emmanuel III Delly] to enter into the College of Cardinals, I intended to express in a concrete way my spiritual nearness and my affection for those populations. We would like, dear and venerable brothers, together to reaffirm the solidarity of the whole Church with the Christians of that beloved land and to invite and to implore from the merciful God, for all peoples involved, the longed-for coming of reconciliation and peace.' —Pope Benedict XVI, Homily at the last consistory to Create Cardinals, on November 25, 2007; Benedict's reference here is to Patriarch Delly. Delly was created a cardinal on that occasion, and he was the only cardinal whom Benedict referred to specifically during his homily; Benedict singled him out from among all the cardinals for special attention because of the terrible situation for the Church in Iraq

'The situation in some parts of Iraq, is disastrous and tragic. Life is a Calvary: there is no peace or security... Everyone is afraid of kidnapping... Sixteen of our priests and two of our bishops have been kidnapped and released after an extremely high ransom. Some of them belong to the ranks of the new martyrs who today pray for us in heaven: the archbishop of Mosul, Faraj Rahho, Fr. Raghid Ganni, two other priests, and six more young men.' —Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly, in Rome on October 14, 2008 (two years ago), in his address to the Synod of Bishops; Delly was then the head of about 750,000 Chaldean Catholics in Iraq, down from 1.5 million five years before

'The population of this country, crossed by two famous rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, is 24 million, all Muslims, with whom we live peacefully and freely. In Baghdad alone, the capital of Iraq, Christians have 53 chapels and churches. The Chaldeans have more than seven dioceses in the country, the Patriarch of the Chaldean Church lives today in Baghdad.
Christians are good with their fellow Muslims and in Iraq there is mutual respect among them. Christian schools are highly thought of. Today people prefer to attend these schools directed by the Christian institutions, especially those run by the religious orders.
Despite all the political and religious situations, and emigration, we now have nearly one million Christians in Iraq out of 25 million Muslims. We have the freedom of religion in our Churches.
The Bishop or Priest, religious leader is listened to and respected by his fellow citizens. We have our own seminary, and Chaldean monks and nuns and religious.' —Patriarch Delly, remarks to the Synod of Bishops at the close of the day's session Friday, October 15, 2010, five days ago; Delly is now the head of less than 500,000 Chaldean Catholics in Iraq, as more than 1 million, or two-thirds of the entire Chaldean population, has left Iraq since 2003

'“Persecution, then, gives rise to a particular technique of writing, and therewith to a particular type of literature, in which the truth about crucial things is presented exclusively between the lines.”' — Leo Strauss, Persecution and the Art of Writing, 1952; Strauss maintained that a man who wishes to tell the truth in times of persecution must conceal the truth to avoid being arrested and executed; only those who can read the concealed meaning 'between the lines' will understand that the words a persecuted man is speaking are not what he truly wishes to say. Strauss also theorized that persecuted men would leave 'clues' in their writing so that attentive readers would realize that they were trying to get a message across which they could not speak openly

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'The population grew in five lines'

Cardinal Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly, 83, of Baghdad, is either a coward, or senile.

That seemed to be the consensus among the little group of journalists during the Synod press briefing on Saturday afternoon, October 16.

A number of speakers from Iraq during the Synod's first days spoke of the terrible suffering of Christians in that country over the past seven years, since the allied forces under American leadership invaded, overthrew Saddam Hussein, and attempted to set up a democratic national government.

Then Patriarch Delly asked for permission to address the Synod at the end of the day on Friday afternoon, October 15.

And this is what Delly said:

'Many people want to hear something about Iraq that today occupies an important position in the Middle East, a position that is a little bit, if I say, exaggerated: I sincerely thank all those who have spoken about Iraq in this hall and have shown their sympathy for this country that is the cradle of Christians and especially the cradle of the Chaldean Church, the Eastern Church in the Persian Empire, and as of today, 78% of Mesopotamian Christians are Chaldean Catholics. The population of this country, crossed by two famous rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, is 24 million, all Muslims, with whom we live peacefully and freely. In Baghdad alone, the capital of Iraq, Christians have 53 chapels and churches. The Chaldeans have more than seven dioceses in the country, the Patriarch of the Chaldean Church lives today in Baghdad.
'Christians are good with their fellow Muslims and in Iraq there is mutual respect among them. Christian schools are highly thought of. Today people prefer to attend these schools directed by the Christian institutions, especially those run by the religious orders.
'Despite all the political and religious situations, and emigration, we now have nearly one million Christians in Iraq out of 25 million Muslims. We have the freedom of religion in our Churches.
The Bishop or Priest, religious leader is listened to and respected by his fellow citizens.
We have our own seminary, and Chaldean monks and nuns and religious.'

(Here is a link to this text: http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/sinodo/documents/bollettino_24_speciale-medio-oriente-2010/02_inglese/b15_02.html)

One journalist laughed. 'Look, six lines into the text he says there are 24 million Muslims in Iraq, and then a few lines later he says they's grown more numerous -- 25 million.'

Other journalists nodded.

'Did you ever hear of Leo Strauss?' I asked the American who was there.

'No,' he said. 'Who is he?'

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Persecution and its Effects

Free speech isn't a luxury. It's a necessity.

When people are afraid to speak their minds, then they speak only what they think others want to hear.

Truth goes out the window.

The effect of truth's departure on any society, whether it be a business company, a family, a nation, or even a Church -- even the court grown up around a Church leader, like the court which has grown up around the Pope -- is dramatic.

When speech is cautious, and fearful, because of the fear of retribution for speaking the truth, truth is driven further and further underground.

We live in an age of 'political correctness,' when saying the 'wrong' thing can harm one's career.

But Cardinal Delly has been living for seven years in a situation of lawlessness and persecution which seems not to get better.

He has been wounded by flying glass fragments from shattered windows, and he has lost dear friends to death.

Despite all the cries and appeals he has issued over the years (some of them cited above, at the outset), and despite achieving the 'high profile' status of a cardinal in 2007, Delly's words have fallen on deaf ears, and his people continue to suffer.

So, when Delly spoke to the Synod a few days ago, he changed course.

He did not lament, or denounce, or appeal.

He did not cry out, 'We are suffering in Iraq!'

No, not at all.

On the contrary.

'Christians are good with their fellow Muslims and in Iraq there is mutual respect among them,' Delly said. 'Christian schools are highly thought of....'

Whereas two years ago, also in Rome, Delly had said, 'The situation in some parts of Iraq, is disastrous and tragic. Life is a Calvary: there is no peace or security,' now he said 'We have the freedom of religion in our Churches.'

What was going on? Why the abrupt change?

I had no idea, at first.

It is possible, I thought, that Delly is getting old. After all, he is 83. So that seemed like one possibility.

It is also possible also that he is afraid to 'tell it like it is,' I thought. He did seem to have been affected by the incident when he was struck by flying glass fragments... Maybe he is 'shell-shocked' from living in danger and uncertainty for so long...

It could even be, I thought, that there is a sort of 'good cop, bad cop' routine occurring here, where the younger Iraqi bishops and priests cry out in their anguish and pain about the persecution they are suffering -- the persecution that is ending the life of the Chaldean Church in Iraq -- and where Delly plays the role of 'good cop,' saying things aren't so bad after all.

But this made no sense to me either, as I cannot see who would hear of Delly's soft words and decide to lessen the pressure on the Chaldean Catholics.

As I thought it over, my mind kept going back to that seemingly simple inconsistency, the 24 million and 25 million population number.

Delly says there are 24 million Muslims at the beginning of his talk, and a few moments later, he says there are 25 million.

Now, I suppose you could take it as a simple mistake, or even as a sign of senility, that he just can't keep a simple number like 25 million straight for more than 20 seconds.

But I think it is possible to take it differently.

That he said it on purpose.

That it was a 'Straussian signal.'

And what would such a signal mean?

It would mean this: 'Take everything I am saying and set it aside as unreliable, just like my population data. For years I have been crying out against the suffering of my people, and nothing has done any good. I'm throwing my hands up. The reason I am saying things are good is not because things are actually good. I'm saying things are good because I am at the end of my rope and almost beyond the end. My Church is dying, and no one seems to care. All I can do now is spout obvious nonsense, and hope that somebody notices, in order to perhaps draw the world's attention to my people's plight, and help bring that plight to an end.'

Delly's intervention, in this light, becomes the single most dramatic intervention of this Synod -- and yet it has gone unnoticed, for the most part, or has been completely misinterpreted.

Patriarch Delly is, in my view, one of the most courageous men at this Synod.

He was not afraid to be mocked as senile and vilified as a coward, even by some of his own people (who told me, shaking their heads in a troubled way, 'we don't understand why he said what he said, when the situation is obviously so terrible').

He has not abandoned his people.

In the most difficult of circumstances, he is doing everything he can for them.

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Biographical information about Delly

Emmanuel III Delly, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans and Primate of the Chaldean Catholic Church, was born on October 6, 1927 in Tel Keppe and was ordained a priest on December 21, 1952. He was ordained a bishop 10 years later in December 1962 at the age of 35. He was elected Patriarch of the Chaldean Church on December 3, 2003, succeeding the late Patriarch Raphael I Bidawid. He was created a Cardinal Bishop on November 24, 2007.

During his 42 years as a bishop, Delly's contributions to the Chaldean Church include building of many churches in and outside of Iraq. This includes the establishment of the College of Babylon, as a philosophy and theology institution. Delly oversees several Chaldean religious journals and publications. He is well known for his administrative abilities and love of his people.

On October 17, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would make Mar Emmanuel III Delly a Cardinal. Delly was elevated to the College of Cardinals in the consistory at St. Peter's Basilica on November 24, 2007. Pope Benedict XVI said on this occasion that by naming Emmanuel III Delly cardinal, he was demonstrating his 'spiritual closeness and [his] affection' for Iraqi Christians.

Delly speaks Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, Syriac, Arabic, French, Italian, Latin, and English fluently.

In 2007, during the traditional 'thank you' address on behalf of the new group of cardinals, new Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, stressed that the elevation of Emmanuel III Delly to the cardinalate was to highlight the shedding of 'tears and blood' in Iraq, 'the land of Abraham.'

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The Homily of Pope Benedict XVI at the Last Consistory, November 25, 2007

PAPAL HOMILY AT THE 2007 CONSISTORY

Here is a Zenit translation of the homily that Benedict XVI gave on Saturday, November 25, 2007, during the ordinary public consistory in which he elevated 23 new cardinals. I have bold-faced the reference to Delly.

By Pope Benedict XVI

Lord Cardinals,
Venerable Brothers of the Episcopate and Priesthood,
Dear brothers and sisters!

Today -- in this Vatican basilica, heart of the Christian world -- is renewed a significant and solemn ecclesial event: the ordinary public consistory for the creation of 23 new cardinals with the imposition of the biretta and the conferral of the title. It is an event that every time awakens a special emotion, and not only in those who with these rites are admitted to the College of Cardinals, but in the whole Church, joyful over this eloquent sign of Catholic unity.

The ceremony itself in its structure discloses the value of the task that the new cardinals are called to perform, closely cooperating with the Successor of Peter, and it invites the people of God to pray that in their service, these brothers of ours always remain faithful to Christ, even unto the sacrifice of life if it is necessary, and let themselves be guided by his Gospel. For this we gather around them with faith and raise up to God, first of all, our prayerful thanksgiving.

In this climate of joy and intense spirituality I offer with affection my greeting to each one of you, brothers, who from this day forward are members of the College of Cardinals, chosen to be, according to an ancient institution, the closest counselors and co-workers of the Successor of Peter in guiding the Church.

I greet and thank Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, who, in your name addressed courteous and devout sentiments to me, emphasizing at the same time the significance and importance of the ecclesial event we are experiencing. I desire, furthermore, to address a dutiful thought to Bishop Ignacy Jez, whom we mourn, whom the God of every grace called to himself, just before his nomination, to offer him a very different crown: that of the glory of Christ. My cordial greeting then goes to the lord cardinals who are present and also to those who were not able to be with us physically, but who are spiritually united with us. The celebration of the consistory is always a providential occasion to offer “urbi et orbi” -- to the city of Rome and to the whole world -- witness to that singular unity that binds the cardinals to the Pope, Bishop of Rome. In such solemn circumstances it is also dear to me to address a respectful and deferential greeting to government representatives and leaders who have gathered here from every part of the world, and to the relatives, friends, priests, religious, and faithful of the particular local Churches from which the new cardinals come. Finally, I greet all those who have come here to pay their respects to the new cardinals and to express in festive joy their esteem and affection for them.

With today’s celebration, you, dear brothers, are with full rights inserted into the venerable Church of Rome, whose shepherd is the Successor of Peter. Thus in the College of Cardinals is revived the ancient “presbyterium” of the Bishop of Rome, whose members, while they carried out their pastoral and liturgical functions in the various churches, did not neglect their precious work in the fulfillment of those tasks connected with assisting the Pope in his universal apostolic office. The times have changed and today the great family of Christ’s disciples is spread across every continent to the most remote corners of the earth. It speaks nearly all the languages of the world and to it belong people of every culture. The diversity of the College of Cardinals, which is accounted for by geographical and cultural provenance, manifests this providential growth and at the same time demonstrates the changed pastoral needs to which the Pope must respond. Because of this, the universality, the catholicity, of the Church, is well reflected in the composition of the College of Cardinals: Many are pastors of diocesan communities, others are in direct service of the Apostolic See, and others have rendered meritorious service in specific pastoral sectors.

Each one of you, dear and venerable newly created cardinals, therefore represents a portion of the articulated Mystical Body of Christ that is the Church everywhere diffused. I know what effort and sacrifice is necessary today for the care of souls, but I know the generosity that sustains your daily apostolic activity. For this reason, in the circumstances in which we live, it is dear to me to confirm to you my sincere appreciation of the service you have faithfully given in many years of work in different spheres of ecclesial ministry, service which now, with this elevation to the cardinalate, you are called to accomplish with greater responsibility, in the closest communion with the Bishop of Rome.

I now think with affection of the communities entrusted to your care and, in a special way, of those that are most tried by suffering, by challenges and difficulties of different sorts. Among these, how can I not turn my gaze with apprehension and affection, in this moment of joy, to the dear Christian communities of Iraq? These brothers and sisters of ours in the faith are experiencing in their own flesh the dramatic consequences of a long conflict and are living in an ever more fragile and delicate political situation. Calling the patriarch of the Chaldean Church to enter into the College of Cardinals, I intended to express in a concrete way my spiritual nearness and my affection for those populations. We would like, dear and venerable brothers, together to reaffirm the solidarity of the whole Church with the Christians of that beloved land and to invite and to implore from the merciful God, for all peoples involved, the longed-for coming of reconciliation and peace.

A short while ago we heard the Word of God that helps us better to understand the solemn moment we are now experiencing. In the Gospel passage, Jesus had just recalled for the third time the fate that awaits him in Jerusalem, but the ambition of the disciples gets the upper hand on the fear that for a moment assailed them. After Peter’s confession at Caesarea and the discussion along the way about who was greatest, ambition drives the sons of Zebedee to claim for themselves the best positions in the messianic kingdom at the end of time. In the race for privileges, the two know well what they want, just as the other 10 do, despite their “righteous” indignation. In truth, however, they do not know what they are asking for. It is Jesus who makes them understand, speaking in very different terms of the “service” that awaits them. He corrects the coarse conception of merit that they have, according to which man can acquire rights before God.

Sursa: www.InSideTheVatican.com

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