A Catholic synod called at
the Vatican to address the
rising persecution of
Christian in the Middle East
wrapped up on Saturday with
a joint statement that
focused a lot of attention
on demanding Israel end its
“occupation” of Arab lands.
But
the
bulk of the two-week meeting
was spent discussing how
Israel is the root cause of
all the Middle East’s woes,
including those faced by its
Christians.
The final statement
reflected that position. It
listed
the “occupation” of Arab
lands, the building of
Israel’s security barrier,
military checkpoints, the
jailing of terrorists
(defined in the statement as
“political prisoners”) and
the general disruption of
Palestinian life as some of
the main reasons behind the
exodus of Palestinian
Christians and Muslim
attacks on the Jewish state.
Cyril Salim Bustros, the
Lebanon-born Greek
archbishop of Our Lady of
the Annunciation in Boston,
Massachusetts was
responsible for delivering
the final statement. In
clarifying remarks, he
stated that
“the Holy Scriptures cannot
be used to justify the
return of Jews to Israel and
the displacement of the
Palestinians, to justify the
occupation by Israel of
Palestinian lands.”
He then escalated the
situation by declaring that
the original promises made
by God to the children of
Israel “were nullified by
Christ. There is no longer a
chosen people.”
Bustros
rejected the idea of Israel
as “the Jewish state,” and
insisted that eventually all
the so-called “Palestinian
refugees” must return to the
land, a sure recipe for the
demographic destruction of
the world’s only Jewish
nation-state.
The Catholic Church has for
years been trying to repair
its image as an institution
steeped in anti-Semitism.
But Bustros’ remarks
make fairly clear that the
Vatican remains as dedicated
as ever to replacement
theology - that teaching
that says God has tossed
aside the Jews, despite is
irrevocable promises to
them, and that “the Church”
has instead inherited those
promises.
