Article originally published at https://www.acistampa.com/story/32745/leone-xiv-il-libano-e-il-giro-delle-sette-chiese
President Joseph Aoun emphasized Lebanon’s extraordinary religious diversity, and the fact that, in that small patch of land, religions today manage to coexist in a space of dialogue, institutionally established through the division of state power, but experienced daily by the people. Religious diversity, however, does not only concern the relationship between faiths. Even within the Catholic Church itself , there are seven distinct Catholic Churches, an expression of Middle Eastern diversity and an unparalleled historical stratification.
In the Middle East, to be precise, there are first of all six Eastern Catholic Churches sui iuris , that is, with their own legal system. They are the Maronite Church, the Armenian Catholic Church, the Greek-Melkite Catholic Church , the Syriac Catholic Church, the Chaldean Church, and the Coptic Church. The seventh Church is obviously the Latin Rite Church .
When we speak of the Latin Church, we refer to the Catholic communities of the Latin rite, distinct from the Eastern Catholic Churches, each with its own traditional rite. The Latin Church is represented in Beirut by an apostolic vicar , currently the Franciscan César Essayan. The fact that he is a Franciscan is no coincidence: this rite is not widespread, but the Franciscan community is active and significant.
Then there is the Maronite Church, which is the national confession in Lebanon. The Maronite Patriarchate is in Bkerke and will be visited by Leo XIV. It is headed by Cardinal Boutros Bechara Rai, who is also an important figure in Lebanese social and political life .
The Maronite Church takes its name from Saint Maron, an ascetic born in 410 AD, who founded this Antiochian Church of Syrian tradition, which became a patriarchate in 685 and has never separated from Rome. Relations with Rome were interrupted under Mamluk rule (1291–1516), but were resumed in the mid- 15th century and intensified under the Ottoman Empire, with the support of the French kings. Today, it has approximately 4 million members worldwide , spread through the Lebanese diaspora in Brazil, the United States, Argentina, Australia, Canada, and Africa. In Lebanon, there are approximately 1.6 million Maronites, a quarter of the population.
The Armenian Catholic Church was founded by the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus, according to tradition . At the beginning of the 4th century, it was established as the Church of the Armenian Nation by Saint Gregory the Illuminator, an expression of Armenia, the world’s first Christian state. In the 18th century, some Armenians entered into communion with Rome. The Armenian Catholic Church has approximately 600,000 members, 400,000 of whom are in Armenia and the countries of the former Soviet Union. The Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenian Catholic Church, who resides in Beirut, has been Raphael since 2021. Bedros XXI Minassian
The Chaldean Church is believed to have been founded by the Apostle Thomas and his disciples for the Christians of the Jewish and Chaldean communities of Babylon. The Chaldean Church rejected the Council of Ephesus in 431 and has been autocephalous since 410. It is a Catholic branch of the Eastern Catholic Church, which today has nearly half a million members, divided between its original locations in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey (Leo XIV celebrated with them in Istanbul), and Lebanon, as well as in the diaspora. The patriarch is Cardinal Rafael Sako, who resides in Baghdad, Iraq.
The Syriac Catholic Church has a very ancient history. Tradition holds that it was founded in 30 AD by Saint Peter in Antioch. In 451, a portion of the Syriac Christians rejected the Council of Chalcedon, and the break with Constantinople and Rome became effective in 512. Only in 1557 was there a definitive rapprochement with Rome, and in 1662 the Church took the name of Syriac Catholic Church. Since 2009, the Patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church has been Ignace Youssef III Younan .
The Melkite Greek Catholic Church, on the other hand, has 1.6 million members, almost all in the diaspora, the majority in the United States. It is composed of Arabic-speaking Christians of the Byzantine Rite from the Chalcedonian Patriarchates of Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem.
It was founded in 1724, when a pro-Catholic was elected Patriarch of Antioch by the Christians of Damascus, and a week later, a synod convened in Constantinople chose an Orthodox patriarch. From then on, there were two Greek-Melkite Orthodox Patriarchs of Antioch and two Greek-Melkite Catholic Patriarchs of Antioch. The current patriarch is Youssef Absi, who holds the title of Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and resides in Damascus, Syria.
The Coptic Catholic Church was founded in 68 AD by the evangelist St. Mark in Alexandria, Egypt. From the 2nd century onwards, the theological school of Alexandria exerted a strong influence on the Christian world. In 451, the Copts rejected the Council of Chalcedon. The patriarchate was established by Rome in 1824 by Leo XII (1823–1829). However, the patriarchal see was not occupied until 1947. This Church has 160,000 members in Egypt. Currently, the patriarch is Abraham Sidrak, Patriarch of Alexandria, residing in Cairo, Egypt.