The churches in Syria, Iraq and Egypt are suffering from war and terrorism, Pope Francis said on Thursday.
The Oriental churches "both in Eastern Europe and in the Middle East" have "often been hit by terrible waves of persecution and hardship", he told members of the ROACO (Reunion of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches) Assembly in the Vatican. "Large-scale emigration has weakened their presence in the lands where they flourished for centuries," the pope continued.
"Now, thanks to God, some of them have returned to freedom after the painful period of totalitarian regimes, but others, especially in Syria, Iraq and Egypt, are seeing their children suffer as a result of ongoing war and the senseless violence perpetrated by fundamentalist terrorism," Francis continued. "Let us not forget that even today in the East Christians - be they Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant - shed their blood as a seal of their witness," he concluded.
The ROACO assembly was devoted to training for seminarians.
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