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Sun, Oct 24, 2010 | Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs | Communicated by the Bureau of Deputy Foreign Minister Ayalon

Archbishop Cyrille Salim Bustros

DFM Ayalon Criticizes Vatican Synod Communique

DFM Ayalon criticizes Vatican Synod communique and describes remarks made by Archbishop Bustros as a “libel”. Dep FM also calls for the Vatican to distance themselves from these comments.

On Sunday, October 24, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon reacted to a Vatican Synod communique hugely critical of Israel.

“We express our disappointment that this important Synod has become a forum for political attacks on Israel in the best history of Arab propaganda,” Ayalon said. “The Synod was hijacked by a anti-Israel majority.”

Bishops from across the Middle East held a two week long meeting at the Vatican on the plight of Christians in the region.

The Deputy Foreign Minister was especially critical of comments made by the archbishop in charge of the committee that drafted the communique, Cyrille Salim Bustros at a press conference.

“We are especially appalled at the language used by Archbishop Bustros during his press conference,” Ayalon remarked. “We call on the Vatican to distant themselves from Archbishop Bustros’ comments which are a libel against the Jewish people and the State of Israel and should not be construed as the Vatican’s official position. These outrageous comments should not cast a shadow over the important relationship between the Vatican, the State of Israel and the Jewish people.”

During an October 23 press conference presenting the synod’s final message, Archbishop Cyrille Salim Bustros said that Israel cannot claim Palestinian territory as its promised land citing the Bible to justify its occupation and the expulsion of Palestinians. Archbishop Bustros is the Melkite Greek Catholic bishop of Newton (Massachusetts, USA).

Bustros made his comments after the Middle East synod of Catholic bishops called on the United Nations to implement its resolutions and “end Israeli occupation of Arab lands.” “The recourse to theological and biblical positions which use the Word of God to wrongly justify injustices is not acceptable. On the contrary, recourse to religion must lead every person to see the face of God in others and to treat them according to their God-given prerogatives and God’s commandments, namely, according to God’s bountiful goodness, mercy, justice and love for us.”

Speaking at press conference, Bustros said: “The theme of the promised land cannot be used as a basis to justify the return of the Jews to Israel and the expatriation of the Palestinians.” “For Christians one can no longer talk of the land promised to the Jewish people,” he said, because the “promise” was “abolished by the presence of Christ.”

In the kingdom of God, which covers the whole world, “there is no longer a favoured people, a chosen people, all men and women of every country have become the chosen people,” the Lebanese-born Bustros said.

Bustros also warned against the risk of Israel becoming an exclusively Jewish state, with a consequent threat to the 1.5 million Muslim and Christian Arabs living there. [EJP, Oct 23, 2010]

Rabbi David Rosen of the American Jewish Committee, who had addressed the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, also offered strong criticism of comments made near the synod’s conclusion by Archbishop Cyrille Salim Bustros.

“The comments of Archbishop Bustros reflect either shocking ignorance or insubordination in relation to the Catholic Church’s teaching on Jews and Judaism flowing from the Vatican II declaration Nostra Aetate. That declaration affirms the eternal covenant between God and the Jewish People, which is inextricably bound up with the Land of Israel. We urge the Vatican to issue a clear repudiation of Archbishop Bustros’s outrageous and regressive comments,” Rosen responded.

Contrary to some media reports, the synod’s final message did not include Archbishop Bustros’s remarks. The final message stated:

“We have evaluated the social situation and the public security in all our countries in the Middle East. We have taken account of the impact of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the whole region, especially on the Palestinians who are suffering the consequences of the Israeli occupation: the lack of freedom of movement, the wall of separation and the military checkpoints, the political prisoners, the demolition of homes, the disturbance of socio-economic life and the thousands of refugees. We have reflected on the suffering and insecurity in which Israelis live. We have meditated on the situation of the holy city of Jerusalem. We are anxious about the unilateral initiatives that threaten its composition and risk to change its demographic balance. With all this in mind, we see that a just and lasting peace is the only salvation for everyone and for the good of the region and its peoples.” [catholicculture.org, Oct 25, 2010]