Pope Francis receives Syriac Catholic Patriarch Joseph III Younan and patriarchs of the Eastern Catholic Churches

VATICAN – His Holiness Pope Francis received Mor Ignatius Joseph III Younan, Patriarch of the Syriac Church of Antioch and All the East, the patriarchs of the Eastern Catholic Churches, and the most eminent archbishop at his Holiness’s residence in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. 

This came at the end of the work of the General Assembly of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches. His Eminence Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, President of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, and His Eminence Archbishop Giorgio Demetrio Callaro, Secretary of the Synod, also participated in the meeting.

Patriarch Mor Ignatius Youssef III Younan addressed the issue of the current challenges facing Eastern Christians, the repercussions of immigration, and what they suffer from as a result of the lack of a special ecclesiastical authority for them in the countries of emigration, especially in Europe, thanking His Holiness for his patriarchal care.

The Patriarch also touched on the difficult situations and crises that the Middle East region is going through, especially Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, stressing the important role played by His Holiness and the Holy See in this context, to contribute to finding solutions to these crises, with the aim of strengthening the Christian presence in the land of our fathers and forefathers.

His Holiness the Pope thanked them, praising the ecclesiastical care for the faithful in these difficult circumstances, and granting the Eastern Churches and their faithful the apostolic blessing.