English Wall

"The hope aroused by this day is that an age of peace and harmony will begin, that there will be no more wars, not event preventative wars". From Iraq, a country that has never been so bonded to the US before, here are the first comments of the local Catholic bishops on the epoch-making election of Barack Obama, the first Afro-American man to be elected president. "It's hard to tell now if Obama will be better than others that came before him - states to SIR mgr. Jean Sleiman, bishop of Baghdad of the Latin -. Of course, the USA have a long-term strategy here in Iraq, which, as such, is bound to the reason of State, and not simply to the affairs of individual peole. ‘Wait and see'". "We ask Barack Obama to rule his country with love as every ruler should do - he is echoed by the patriarchal vicar of Baghdad, the Chaldean Shlemon Warduni -. As the leader of a superpower, he must rule his people with justice, without forgetting the rest of the world. It is urgent to work for unity and harmony in the world, to pull down any division and put an end to any suffering. May he do good to man". "A brave choice and a sign of true democracy, to elect president an Afro-American black man". Mgr. Antoine Audo, bishop of Aleppo, Syria, receives with hope this election which "many people here in Syria and elsewhere hoped in". "Bush's policy - he explains to SIR - has never been liked. But I think his Muslim or Arabic origins had their weight as well. This is certainly a brave choice for Americans and a sign of true democracy, to elect president an Afro-American black man". The weight and novelty of Obama as the President of the United States, adds the bishop, "might be a positive and challenging example for our Arab and Muslim governments, to show this free spirit and attitude" and at the same time "help the USA shake off or at least reduce the deep dislike it has attracted over the last few years amidst the masses, and not only the Muslim ones, and that has become a real problem for the USA". "I hope - he concludes - in a change of policy for a future of peace in Iraq as well, in an honourable retreat of the USA and the return home of the thousands of Iraqi refugees, including Christians, who are here in Syria".
Mgr. Paul Dahdah, apostolic vicar of Beirut of the Latin, does not speak so much of inconsistency with Bush's policy as of a "real change". "Hopefully - he says to SIR -, with this election, the American Middle East policy will change a little bit: the age-old problem of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is still at its centre. If peace were solved in this region, it would no longer be a problem and it would be very close. Iraq too deserves special consideration. I have been in that country for 15 years and I know what tragedy the Christian communities are living there. Many are leaving a native land that does not protect them and they will hardly ever go back.
Fence-sitting positions are those taken by the bishop of Cairo (Egypt), mgr. Giuseppe Sarraf, “it is an epoch-making election, a true novelty that deserves attention and time to measure its weight on the Middle-Eastern scene”, and by the Custodian of the Holy Land, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who believes that “Obama will have to face so many challenges in the Middle East where the United States have played and will keep playing an important role”. “His leadership will be decisive in this – he explains to SIR –. We hope in a serious, decisive and positive change and in an increasingly personal involvement in the Middle Eastern policy, especially in the Holy Land, to achieve a fair and lasting negotiated peace”. “We hope that, in the wake of Annapolis, which bore no fruits, Obama will resume with determination and freshness the talks that were cut short back then. We expect new developments; so far we have been set into already-written scripts; today, in the light of this great change, we expect a new script for this region as well”.

© SIR