The Holy Father is of course quite right when he calls on the Middle East’s Christians to hold fast to their heritage.
The heritage of Lebanon, which has a European official language and requires that the President be a Maronite Catholic.
The heritage of Syria, which has Christian-majority provinces, and Christian festivals as public holidays.
The heritage of Iran, which has three reserved parliamentary seats for Christians (and one for a Jew).
And the heritage of Turkey and Israel … well, how, exactly?
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Yes, I agree. Countries which don't have any kind of Christian heritage are basically wrong.
ReplyDeleteWell, they are certainly of less obvious positive concern to the Pope, yes.
ReplyDeleteI think there might be some Christian heritage in Israel.
ReplyDeleteThen where is anything remotely comparable to the requirement that the President be a Christian (and where is even so much as a European official language in the West's supposed Levantine outpost)?
ReplyDeleteWhere are the Christian-majority provinces, and Christian festivals as public holidays?
Where are the reserved parliamentary seats for Christians?
And so on.
Israel will not even accept the right of return of ethnic Jews baptised in infancy, even though people like that died in the Holocaust.
They've got the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. That should count for something in the heritage stakes.
ReplyDeleteThat was there rather earlier than 1948.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, Shimon Peres now wants it and various other sites (Church of the Annunciation at Nazareth, that sort of thing) transferred to the sovereignty of the Vatican.
Sounds like an excellent reason for the Pope to demonstrate some positive concern, then.
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