Huff Post: The Metropolitans of Aleppo in Syria, Mar Gregorios Youhanna Ibrahim and Boulos (Paul) Yazigi were abducted April 22nd, 2013 by ‘unknown persons’ and their fate is still in question.
This repulsive event is just one of many serious examples of the increasing persecution that Christians are now experiencing in the Middle East.
Over the past year I have been working with Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna, and “Pro Oriente” in Vienna, Austria. Today Cardinal Christoph Schönborn in his capacity as chairman of the “Pro Oriente” Foundation’s board of trustees together with the Patriarchs Youhanna X (Antiochan Orthodox), Ignatius Zakka I Iwas (Syriac Orthodox), Gregorios III Laham (Melkite greek Catholic), Louis Raphael I Sako (Chaldean Catholic), Mar Dinkha IV (Assyrian), Nerses Bedros XIX (Armenian Catholic) published a joint declaration on the situation of Christians in the Middle East.
The unprecedented nature of this collective statement of Patriarchs and Cardinal is testimony to the extreme situations in which Christians in the Middle East now find themselves.
Categories: Asia