LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE JOHN PAUL II
TO NEW SYRIAN PATRIARCH

To His Beatitude Ignace Moussa I Daoud
Patriarch of Antioch for Syrians

I received with great joy the message, marked by deep trust in the Lord, the Good Shepherd of the Church, in which Your Beatitude informs me of your election.

As I offer you my warm congratulations, I wholeheartedly accept your request for ecclesiastical communion.

I am sure that with our Brothers, the Synod Fathers of the Patriarchate of Antioch for Syrians, Your Beatitude will be able to lead the Church entrusted to your care along the way of the Gospel, lived, celebrated and proclaimed with confi- dence.

As I ask the Lord and Holy Mary, Mother of God, to fill you with grace, to make your ministry fruitful and to take you under their protection, I send a holy fraternal kiss to you and to all the Bishops. To you, to the members of the Holy Synod, to the priests, to the religious and to all the faithul of your Patriarchate, I impart my affectionate Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, 20 October 1998.

IOANNES PAULUS PP. II

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