On behalf of the Jury of the St. John Paul II Award, I would like to extend a warm welcome to all of you here at the Award Ceremony. Now in its second edition, the Vatican Foundation John Paul II is pleased to present this award today to His Excellency Jacques Mourad, Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Homs, Hama, and Nabk, in recognition and appreciation of his life and work as a witness to Christian fidelity and charity, as well as his zeal for interreligious dialogue and his commitment in promoting peace and reconciliation. With his ability to bear, in the sign of the cross of Jesus Christ, the sufferings inflicted upon him, mainly by Islamic extremists, he stands before us as a martyr, in the original sense of the Greek term martyrs, the Christian who bears witness to his faith in Jesus Christ with his life and thus offers a credible sign of Christian discipleship of the cross. What St. John Paul II said during the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum in 1994 certainly applies to today’s Laureate as well: “We have this common task, we must say together between East and West: Ne evacuetur Crux! Let the Cross of Christ not be emptied, because if the Cross of Christ is emptied, man no longer has roots, he no longer has prospects: he is destroyed!
We thank Monsignor Mourad, with deep respect for his testimony of life, and we thank Professor Riccardi, who will present the Laureate to us in detail. By honouring a Syriac Catholic bishop, the Vatican Foundation John Paul II recognizes at the same time a fundamental priority that animated St. John Paul II throughout his life and which he expressed with a meaningful image, arguing that, in order for there to be a bright future, the Church must learn again to breathe with both lungs, that of the Greek-Byzantine and the Roman-Latin.
For this reason, not only did Saint John Paul II had the ecumenical dialogue between Eastern and Western Christians at heart. He also and above all turned his attentive and participatory love to the important heritage of life and faith of Christians in the Middle East, for example by promulgating a specific Code of Canon Law for the Eastern Catholic Churches. And in his Apostolic Exhortation “Orientale Lumen,” he testified to his particular appreciation for these Churches, noting that: “Every day in the East the sun of hope rises again, the light that restores life to the human race. It is from the East, according to a lovely image, that our Saviour will come again (cf. Mt 24:27)”. He adds that: “the men and women of the East are a symbol of the Lord who comes again ” (n. 28).
We thank the Lord for giving us Monsignor Jacques Mourad, such a credible and exemplary sign, confirming the many martyrs and witnesses of hope in Syria who have testified and continue to testify to their firm faith in the Lord who returns. And through the intercession of St. John Paul II, we ask the Lord that today’s recognition of this Syriac Catholic witness by the Vatican Foundation John Paul II may encourage him and instil in him new strength to carry on his mission in the difficult situation of his country, marked by both suffering and hope, and to serve peace and reconciliation through interreligious dialogue.
Card. Kurt Koch