"The Middle East is the great hope and the great preoccupation of Benedict XVI and the Church". It was stated by Card. Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches, in an interview with the weekly of the diocese of Trento ("Vita Trentina"). The Middle East, explained Cardinal Sandri, "is the great hope because the ecumenical attendance and the attendance of other religions which has been going on for a long time, may offer us experiences and trends for dialogue, which we must implement everywhere. Today's challenge, before our eyes, is the one relating to the meeting between cultures and religions". However, added the cardinal, "the Middle East is also the great preoccupation for everybody. We see how difficult agreement is, and how violence goes on in spite of the numerous attempts of peace. The Christians in the Middle East risk disappearing, while they deserve to stay there, where they always have been, and where they demonstrated to stick to their faith as well as their culture and their fatherland. Hope may come from peace only. And the international community must never stop pursuing it". "Prayer and solidarity". These two "requests" by Card. Leonardo Sandri to the "Christians of the West" to meet the needs of their brothers who "are escaping from the land where they were born". "The Christians of the West - said Card. Sandri - are asked to share real needs, remarkable needs, through prayer and solidarity (of material character, too). At the same time, they are asked to sensitise and involve civilians with administrative powers to really respect the fundamental rights of the people, including religious freedom. There must be a spirit of real reciprocity. We are asked to be more aware and convinced of the hard conditions which the Christian communities have to face, as minorities". As prefect, stated the cardinal, "I recently visited Israel, Palestine and Jordan, and I met the patriarchs and bishops in the area, above all, the pastors of Lebanon and Iraq. The tired and indifferent West, unfortunately, is unduly insensitive, and perhaps not grateful to the Christian faith. There are more and more speeches of freedom, but then, we don't realize the personal and community conditioning in which good men and women live. They may be admired for their religious faithfulness. And we don't have a passion for their destiny, but we should".

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