Pope names visitor to Lebanon to investigate Syrian church problems

Published: 2004-07-22

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II nominated an apostolic visitor to the headquarters of the Syrian Catholic Church in Lebanon to investigate an internal problem among church leaders. The apostolic nuncio to Turkey, Archbishop Edmond Farhat, has been appointed by the pope to conduct a "visitation" of the Syrian Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch, located in Beirut, Lebanon, said a written statement released July 21 by the Vatican. An apostolic visitor is sent to investigate and report back to the Vatican on a specific problem, usually within a local church, diocese or religious order. The Syrian Catholic Church is one of the Eastern Catholic churches in communion with the pope and Rome. There is "a difference of view between the patriarchate and the synod" of bishops, said Bishop Ephrem Joseph Younan of Our Lady of Deliverance of Newark, the Syrian Catholic eparchy in the United States and Canada. Bishop Younan is a member of the synod. "This is a matter for the Vatican" to deal with concerning "relations between the patriarchate and the synod," he said in a July 21 telephone interview with Catholic News Service from diocesan headquarters in Union City, N.J.

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