“The fruitfulness of forgiveness as a response to the sterile alternative of hatred and revenge” to bring peace to the Middle East. It is the hope expressed by Mgr. Luigi Padovese, the president of the Turkish bishops killed in Iskenderun (Turkey) on 3 June 2010, in a letter dated 3 April 2010, two months before his death, addressed to sister Chiara Laura Serboli, Abbess of the monastery of St. Clare of Camerino, on the occasion of the canonisation of Blessed Camilla Battista da Varano, due to take place on Sunday, 17 October, during the Synod for the Middle East. “For years the Churches in the Middle East – wrote Mgr. Padovese who worked on the drafting of the Instrumentum laboris – have lived in situations marked by great suffering, and all too often they have been victims of acts of persecution, as it still happens on a daily basis, not only in Iraq. It is not by chance that the main theme of the Synod is ‘The Catholic Church in the Middle East: Communion and Witness’. Pope Benedict XVI himself, by choosing this theme, wanted to stress the need and thirst for peace in the Middle East. The Pope’s instruction invites us to reflect above all on the communion and witness that the Church is called to give in a troubled region like ours”.
In his letter Mgr. Padovese asked the Poor Clare communities in Camerino to pray that “the great suffering of this tortured land may be turned into an invocation of peace, a proclamation of forgiveness. The political events that afflicted the family of Camilla Battista, causing the death of her loved ones and forcing her into exile, were extremely tragic. Yet these events could not get the better of her. She had the inner strength to pray for her enemies and turned the hatred directed against her into an opportunity for forgiveness and heroic love”. According to Mgr. Padovese, “even today, 500 years later, these same virtues make her a role model for all human beings and for the whole Church. For this reason, I am often told that Blessed Camilla Battista can become an example of reconciliation even for those Christians who are suffering from persecution and violence in our communities as she shows them how to find hope drawing from the source of Christ’s Passion”. The full text of the letter was published in the Poor Clare’s magazine “Forma Sororum, Lo sguardo di Chiara d’Assisi oggi”.

© SIR - 21 settembre 2010