THE NUNCIO IN IRAQ AND JORDAN

THE WAGER ON INGENUOUSNESS
"Terrorism isn't the most worrisome problem." Archbishop Giorgio Lingua explains what truly obscures faith, and what drives it: "conversion."

"Deliberate ingenuousness."In September, the Pope entrusted him with the difficult responsibility of being Apostolic Nuncio in Iraq and Jordan and, in this task, he says he wants to be "ingenuous." It sounds strange, but it's perfect.
We met Archbishop G. Lingua in Amman, on his return from Baghdad. He went to the church where the All Saints massacre took place, and stood rooted to the spot in front of the altar riddled with shots. "The thing that most struck me was meeting the survivors of the attack, who were closed in that hell for four hours." He was moved, not only by what they recounted, but also by of the way they recounted it. "They spoke without hatred. Those people live for something greater."

Your Excellency, why do you say you want to be "ingenuous"?
To encounter the other and see the good that's there. And it's always there. I want to trust these I meet. If I don't trust them, I let myself be conditioned by prejudice, and risk not hearing the other person's reasons. Above all in Iraq, I perceived a great deal of distrust and suspicion: these are the obstacles to relationships, new and old. This is why I want to wager on the humanity of each person.

What do you mean by "humanity"?
Before being Christians, Muslims, or something else, we have an essential brotherhood: the image of the Creator impressed in our innermost being, no matter what mirror we use to see this image. I feel that I have to bet on this image, because in everyone, even in the terrorist, it's present. It may be hidden by dust or buried under a mountain of mud, but it's there. And I believe in it.

What does this mean in experience?
When we take the first step, something can happen, a relationship can be born. The indifference melts away.
What did you see in the Christian community in Bagdad?
People who "hope against all hope." When everything should lead to resignation, some people act without thinking excessively about the consequences and without getting lost in the "if"s and the "but"s. They wager, anew, in hope and in faith, that something positive will happen. For example, I was struck by the work that Caritas does with handicapped children and their families, the great majority of whom are Muslim: they witness to the fact that inter-religious coexistence is possible if one's starting point is the needs of the other.

In the face of what is happening in the Middle East, what do you feel is the most urgent need?
After two months in this land, I have the clear impression that external dangers, terrorism, discrimination, and threats come "after." From a certain point of view, they are less worrisome than the problems among Christians: judgments, suspicions, the lack of charity. In fact, even though the former are painful and unacceptable, they do not stop us from being Christian. Instead, the latter are graver, because they obscure our identity, and for this reason the most urgent thing is to purify the heart.

In a recent homily, you spoke of the urgency of conversion: "that our hearts may be touched."
Jesus did not come to deliver us from bad things, but to remove the root of all bad things: our sin. He did not promise to resolve our problems, but commanded us to love each other. This is the priority if we want to save authentic Christianity and not just our traditions. While we defend ourselves from persecution (and we certainly have every right to do so), we mustn't forget that even more alarming is that which impacts negatively on our faith.
A. S.