This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 VATICAN 003692
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EUR/WE (MENUTTI); DRL/IRF (FARR)
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2012
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KIRF RS IN IS UP PGOV PHUM KIRF RS IN IS UP VT VTPREL
SUBJECT: EASTERN CHURCHES UNDER STRESS WHERE CHURCH/STATE SEPARATION IS WEAK
CLASSIFIED BY: A/DCM GEORGE FROWICK FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D).
1. (C) SUMMARY: SECRETARY OF THE CONGREGATION FOR EASTERN CHURCHES, ARCHBISHOP ANTONIO VEGLIO, TOLD CHARGE THAT THE
EASTERN CHURCHES -- THE 22 CHRISTIAN RITES THAT ARE NOT ROMAN CATHOLIC BUT ARE IN COMMUNION WITH ROME -- FACE A NUMBER
OF CHALLENGES THAT CAST LONG SHADOWS OVER THEIR FUTURE. BOTH CONFIDENTIAL
PAGE 02 VATICA 03692 01 OF 02 261100Z RADICAL ISLAM AND RUSSIAN ORTHODOXY PRESENT OBSTACLES TO THE VITALITY AND SURVIVAL
OF THE DISPARATE EASTERN RITE CATHOLIC COMMUNITIES IN EURASIA, THE MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA, AND SOUTH ASIA, BUT, BUT IN BOTH
CASES, ACCORDING TO VEGLIO, THE LACK OF SEPARATION BETWEEN FAITH AND STATE IS THE CHIEF HURDLE. WHILE CHRISTIANS ARE
LEAVING THE MIDDLE EAST IN GREAT NUMBERS, HOLLOWING OUT MILLENNIA-OLD CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES, THE GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH
IN UKRAINE AND THE INDIAN EASTERN CATHOLIC CHURCHES CENTERED ON THE STATE OF KERALA ARE THE MOST ""LIVELY"" AND GROWING.
END SUMMARY.
2. (C) ARCHBISHOP ANTONIO VEGLIO, SECRETARY OF THE CONGREGATION FOR EASTERN CHURCHES TOLD CHARGE DURING A JULY 24
MEETING THAT THE EASTERN CHURCHES IN RUSSIA AND ARAB COUNTRIES ARE COMING UNDER INCREASING PRESSURE, AND HAVE ""A BIG
QUESTION MARK"" OVER THEIR FUTURE. WHERE ""NATIONAL"" FAITHS ARE CLOSE TO OR INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM POLITICAL POWER,
VEGLIO OBSERVED, THE CATHOLIC FAITHFUL FACE PERSISTENT DISCRIMINATION AND THE CHURCH FINDS IT DIFFICULT TO CONDUCT ITS
PASTORAL DUTIES. VEGLIO SAID THERE ARE 22 CHRISTIAN RITES THAT, WHILE NOT ROMAN CATHOLIC, NEVERTHELESS REMAIN IN
COMMUNION WITH ROME (I.E. RECOGNIZE THE ROMAN POPE AS LEADER OF THE FAITHFUL). THESE RITES ARE DIVIDED INTO FOUR
PRINCIPAL GEOGRAPHICAL GROUPS IN:
-- THE FORMERLY COMMUNIST EUROPE -- THE MIDDLE EAST -- INDIA, AND -- ETHIOPIA/ERITREA.
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CONFIDENTIAL
PAGE 03 VATICA 03692 01 OF 02 261100Z THE ORTHODOX CHALLENGE
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3. (C) VEGLIO, A FORMER IV GRANTEE RETURNING TO ROME AFTER NEARLY 30 YEARS OF OVERSEAS HOLY SEE DIPLOMATIC WORK, SAID
HIS CONGREGATION'S PRIMARY DUTY WAS TO ENSURE THAT THESE CHURCHES ARE ABLE TO CARRY OUT PASTORAL CARE OF THE FAITHFUL
WHEREVER THEY ARE (E.G. EVEN AMONG GREEK CATHOLICS IN THE U.S.). REPRISING THE DIFFICULTIES CATHOLICS FACE WITH THE
RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH, VEGLIO SUGGESTED THAT RUSSIAN ORTHODOX OBJECTIONS TO THE PRESENCE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN
RUSSIA DERIVES FROM THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CLERGY'S ""OLD FASHIONED WORLD VIEW, SIMILAR TO THE VATICAN'S WAY OF THINKING
SIXTY YEARS AGO."" HE BELIEVED THAT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH MAY BE MORE APPEALING TO THE AVERAGE RUSSIAN OR UKRAINIAN
BECAUSE, DURING THE YEARS OF COMMUNIST REPRESSION, THEY SUFFERED AND RETAINED THEIR ""PURITY"" WHILE THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
HAD TOO COZY A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE COMMUNIST POWERS. HE WAS CONFIDENT THAT AS THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX MODERNIZED AND
BECAME LESS ISOLATED THEY WOULD FEEL LESS THREATENED AND WOULD DROP THEIR ""IRRATIONAL"" OBJECTIONS TO CATHOLICS IN
RUSSIA. IN THE MEANTIME THE VATICAN WOULD CONTINUE TO MINISTER TO THE FAITHFUL AS BEST IT COULD. VEGLIO IMPLIED IT WOULD
BE DECADES, NOT YEARS, BEFORE THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX WOULD COME AROUND TO THIS VIEW.
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THE CHALLENGE FROM ISLAM
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4. (C) TURNING TO THE MIDDLE EAST, VEGLIO OBSERVED THAT THE CONFIDENTIAL
PAGE 04 VATICA 03692 01 OF 02 261100Z MUSLIM COUNTRIES POSED AN EVEN GREATER CHALLENGE. VEGLIO, WHO RECENTLY RETURNED TO
THE HOLY SEE AFTER SERVING AS NUNCIO IN BEIRUT, ASSERTED THAT ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM, CENTERED ON SUDAN, THREATENED THE
GOOD RELATIONSHIP THAT HAS HERETOFORE EXISTED BETWEEN CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA (REF B). HE WAS
PARTICULARLY CONCERNED THAT THE YOUNGER, MORE MODERN, SECULAR AND USUALLY CHRISTIAN PEOPLE IN THE ARAB MIDDLE EAST ARE
GIVING UP ON THEIR COUNTRIES AND EMIGRATING. HE SAID THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES HAVE BEEN DECIMATED BY THIS EMIGRATION,
WHICH IS SOMETHING ""THE MUSLIMS WANT."" IN A REFRESHINGLY FRANK ADMISSION, VEGLIO SAID THAT, AS NUNCIO, HE HAD
PRESSURED BEIRUT TO LEGALIZE CIVIL MARRIAGES (MUCH TO THE CHAGRIN OF HIS BISHOPS). HE ARGUED THAT PEOPLE IN MIDDLE
EASTERN STATES SHOULD HAVE THE ""MODERN"" OPTION OF BEING SECULAR, WHICH MAKES FOR A BETTER POLITY THAN DOES THEOCRACY.
HE SAID IN MANY ARAB STATES THE CONSTITUTION IS EFFECTIVELY THE KORAN. ""GOVERNMENTS SHOULD NO MORE HAVE THE BIBLE THAN
THE KORAN AS THEIR CONSTITUTION"" IF COUNTRIES IN THE REGION WERE TO MOVE TOWARD GENUINE DEMOCRATIC AND TOLERANT
GOVERNMENTS, HE ASSERTED.
CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL PTQ3036
PAGE 01 VATICA 03692 02 OF 02 261100Z ACTION EUR-00
INFO LOG-00 NP-00 AF-00 AMAD-00 ACQ-00 CIAE-00 DODE-00 DS-00 FBIE-00 VC-00 TEDE-00 INR-00 VCE-00 AC-01 NEA-00 NSAE-00
ACE-00 SS-00 SA-00 DSCC-00 DRL-02 SAS-00 /003W ------------------D08EDC 261100Z /38 R 261054Z JUL 02 FM AMEMBASSY
VATICAN TO SECSTATE WASHDC INFO ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA AMEMBASSY
NEW DELHI
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 02 OF 02 VATICAN 003692
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EUR/WE (MENUTTI); DRL/IRF (FARR)
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2012 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KIRF RS IN IS UP PGOV PHUM KIRF RS IN IS UP VT VTPREL
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UKRAINE AND INDIA: ISLANDS OF GROWTH
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5. (C) ONLY IN UKRAINE AND INDIA ARE THE EASTERN RITE CHURCHES VIGOROUS AND GROWING, DESPITE HINDRANCES, VEGLIO
CONFIDENTIAL
PAGE 02 VATICA 03692 02 OF 02 261100Z NOTED. THE GREEK RITE CATHOLICS ARE SUCCESSFULLY RECOVERING PROPERTIES CONFISCATED
BY STALIN AND GIVEN, IN MANY CASES, TO RUSSIAN ORTHODOX COMMUNITIES. VEGLIO AVERRED THAT THE STRONG PRESENCE OF THIS
CHURCH IN UKRAINE BEFORE WORLD WAR II, AND THE STRONG SUPPORT OF ITS FAITHFUL IN THE U.S. AND ELSEWHERE IN THE WEST,
HAVE GIVEN IT AN ADVANTAGE. TWO MEASURES OF ITS CONFIDENCE ARE THE INTENT BY ARCHBISHOP MAJOR LUBOMYR TO MOVE HIS SEE
FROM LVOV TO KIEV AND THE UKRAINIAN CHURCH'S PRESSURE ON THE HOLY SEE TO RAISE ITS STATUS TO THAT OF A FULL
PATRIARCHATE. (NOTE: THIS WOULD PUT IT ON A PAR WITH THE RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN PATRIARCHATES OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH IN
KIEV).
6. (C) THE SYRO-MALABAR AND SYRO-MALANKARA CHURCHES ARE REPUTED TO HAVE A 2,000-YEAR PRESENCE IN SOUTHERN INDIA,
ORIGINATING, ACCORDING TO VEGLIO, FROM THE VISIT OF SAINT THOMAS THE APOSTLE. THESE CHURCHES ARE THRIVING EVEN AS
CHRISTIANS SUFFER PERSECUTION IN HINDU-NATIONALIST PARTS OF INDIA. VEGLIO PLANS A VISIT TO THOSE CHURCHES AND TO THE
MIDDLE EAST IN THE NEAR FUTURE.
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COMMENT
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7. (C) IN ADDITION TO ITS PASTORAL WORK, THE CONGREGATION FOR EASTERN CHURCHES IS ACTIVE IN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT WORK. IT
IS FUNDED BY THE HOLY SEE AND BY DONATIONS FROM WEALTHY CHURCHES IN EUROPE AND THE U.S. ON THE SUBJECT OF THE MIDDLE
EAST, VEGLIO OBSERVED THAT THE MIXING OF STATE AND RELIGION ALSO CAUSED PROBLEMS IN ISRAEL, WHICH HE NOTED WAS THE ONLY
CONFIDENTIAL
PAGE 03 VATICA 03692 02 OF 02 261100Z COUNTRY IN THE REGION WITH ""DEMOCRATIC ASPECTS."" THE CONGREGATION, AS ELSEWHERE
IN THE HOLY SEE IS DEEPLY TROUBLED BY ISRAELI POLICIES VIS-A-VIS THE PALESTINIANS. THE CONGREGATION WILL REMAIN ACTIVE
IN SEEKING TO SUPPORT THE PALESTINIANS AS A MEANS OF PRESERVING THE REMNANTS OF THE CATHOLIC PRESENCE IN THE REGION.
HARDT
CONFIDENTIAL
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2002VATICA03692 - Classification: CONFIDENTIAL "