Genocide of Christians is scandal of the Middle East

Pope Francis greets the crowd as he arrives for a weekly general audience at St Peter's square. Picture: AFP

Christians are more persecuted now than at any time in recent history. This is the considered, and surely accurate, view of the ­Vatican’s foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher. His title is Secretary for Relations with States, in the office of the Vatican Secretary of State (who is basically the Pope’s prime minister).

Getting into Gallagher’s office in Vatican City reminds you of the power and antiquity of the Catholic Church. Not being a Vatican habitue, I am flummoxed on being deposited at the end of the vast public queues to gain admission to the Holy See’s churches and antiquities. When at last I find an official entrance, I am sent on a dizzying journey through countless majestic arches and high corridors, past many gaily uniformed Swiss guards — you can see how easily a schlock writer such as Dan Brown turns this into not only ­exotica but sinister exotica. Every ceiling is a fresco, every wall lined with paintings and hangings.

But these outward signs conceal a church in many ways laid low. Not least is its inability to defend Christians who are being persecuted in many parts of the world. Gallagher is a friendly, thoughtful, softly spoken Englishman, a former papal representative to Canberra and not remotely given to dramatic language. However, the reality he sketches is stark and undeniable: “The situation is pretty dire for Christians in the Middle East. It’s pretty dire for many people but Christians are in a particularly vulnerable situation. They have been attacked by ISIS (Islamic State) and other Islamic fundamentalist groups. They are being challenged by numerical loss, the loss of places of worship, the loss of people’s lives.

“We hope that Christians will return to their homes in Syria and Iraq. The Holy See has tried to add its voice to their defence, tried to mobilise agencies to help them and tried diplomatically and politically to defend their rights.”

Gallagher argues, somewhat optimistically I think, that the persecution of Christians is slowly gaining wider understanding: “In Europe the issue is gaining more attention, certainly in the European Parliament. There was the (US) congressional resolution on the genocide of Christians.

“But there are certainly places where it’s difficult to add one’s voice to the defence of Christians. Christianity is a part of the Middle East. It is the birthplace of Christianity. It was the cradle of the religion. A Middle East without Christianity is not really a Middle East we could recognise.

“Christians in many parts of the world are facing unprecedented challenges and threats, in the intolerance in the Middle East and some parts of Asia. And it is quite difficult in the political correctness of the West to be a Christian.

“The West is a very secularised society at the moment. But there are little chinks. Through immigration people are realising that religion does count for more. You see more understanding in diplomatic services that if you’re going to understand people, you have to understand religion.”

Gallagher nominates other causes for the eclipse — for the moment at least — of religion in the West. Religious fundamentalism has led some people to use religion to justify violence and this has damaged the standing of all religion. He also recognises that the clerical sexual abuse scandals have driven some people away from Christianity. Then the extensive affluence of the West, Gallagher believes, has sometimes made it blind to the deeper currents in ­humanity.

But the times are changing yet again, he argues: “We are passing into a time of much more insecurity. People will need to draw much more on the spiritual elements of life, the spiritual elements of Christianity. Christianity can still offer a vital response.

“Of course the situation is not going to change overnight.”

Gallagher is involved in one of the church’s most controversial negotiations — that with the government of China. Critics of the Vatican’s efforts believe that in ceding the principle that the Chinese government could have some influence on who gets appointed as a Catholic bishop, the Vatican could be ceding too much to Beijing and undermining the heroism of the underground Catholic Church in China.

Naturally, Gallagher doesn’t see it that way: “The object of any negotiation between the Holy See and the Chinese authorities is to improve the life and conditions of Catholics in China, to promote reconciliation and to allow the life of the church in China to be more integrated into the life of the church worldwide.

“We are talking to them about the appointment of bishops. We don’t discuss politics and we’re not talking about establishing diplomatic relations. A dialogue has been going for 30 years. It began with Pope John Paul II. Some believe that maybe you shouldn’t talk to the Chinese authorities. We take a different approach.”

Gallagher will not comment on the detail of the talks or exactly what role the Beijing government might play in the appointment of Catholic bishops. When pressed for another nation where the government plays a role in such appointments, he nominates the dialogue the church has with Vietnam about bishops: “A lot will depend on the goodwill of people on both sides to make this work.”

In the end, he wants one truth recognised: “It is evident that people can be good Catholics and good Chinese citizens as well.”

As my time with Gallagher draws to a close, I ask him the most difficult question of all.

Ross Douthat, a brilliant American analyst of religion, argues that the two previous popes — John Paul II and Benedict XVI — were essentially resistors to secular contemporary Western culture, saying strongly, and often courting unpopularity in doing so, that the culture of narcissistic individualism, especially embodied in the sexual revolution, was in key respects hostile to human nature and wrong.

Pope Francis, Douthat argues, is an accommodationist, seeking peace with contemporary culture and surren­dering on key traditional beliefs. Gallagher, though he hasn’t read Douthat’s latest book, is familiar with the formulation and rejects it: “Pope Francis is certainly seeking a pastoral conversion of the church. He is inviting pastors and Christians to be more sensitive to people. Religion exists for people, not people for religion.

“I think Pope Francis doesn’t believe this means the compromise of doctrine but to present doctrine in a more compassionate way. Christianity can’t spend all of its time condemning things. It must offer a positive message. As a result (of the Pope’s approach), God and Jesus Christ are a little bit closer to people. After all, the ­sup­reme law is the salvation of souls.”

Finally, is Gallagher an optimist for the future of Christianity in the West? “Yes. I believe in the power of the spirit. The Lord will continue to raise up powerful witnesses to his resurrection and his love.”

Witnesses such as Gallagher himself.