L'"ESPRIT D'ASSISE"
         Auparavant, le nouveau pape avait mis à profit ses deux jours de présence à Cologne pour ranimer l'autre intuition de Jean Paul II, qu'on appelait l'"esprit d'Assise", en souvenir des rassemblements de chefs religieux que le pape défunt avait convoqués à Assise, dans la ville italienne de saint François, en 1987, en 1991 pendant la guerre de Bosnie, et en janvier 2002 après les attentats du 11 septembre. L'esprit d'Assise est dicté par cette conviction que la paix du monde passe par la paix des religions. A cet égard, la visite émouvante que Benoît XVI a rendue, vendredi 19 août, à la synagogue de Cologne, ses rencontres avec les représentants protestants et celles, prévues, avec les musulmans d'Allemagne ont confirmé que le dialogue entre les religions était bien la priorité du pontificat.

Quand Benoît XVI est accueilli dans la synagogue de la Roonstrasse par le célèbre refrain Evenou shalom halerem ­ - que les jeunes des JMJ reprennent dans les rues voisines ­- , le pape est figé par l'émotion. Accompagné par les cardinaux Lustiger, Meisner, archevêque de Cologne, Lehmann, président de la conférence des évêques allemands, Benoît XVI écoute le kaddish, la prière des morts récitée par le rabbin Netanel Teitelbaum. 11 000 juifs de Cologne ont péri dans les camps sur les 15 000 que comptait la ville en 1933. Construite en 1899, la synagogue a été détruite par les nazis. A la fin de la guerre, quelques dizaines de survivants célébreront le premier office dans les ruines. En 1959, la synagogue est reconstruite et la communauté juive de Cologne renaît. Elle compte 5 000 membres aujourd'hui. Vendredi 19 août, 500 personnes ont assisté à la première visite d'un pape allemand dans une synagogue. Ce sont les membres de la communauté, survivants des camps, à côté de scouts sagement assis et de presque tous les responsables politiques du pays.

AFP/MAURIZIO GAMBARINI

           " Baruch haba !" (de tout coeur, bienvenue !), lance Abraham Lehrer, un des présidents de la synagogue. Il qualifie le pape de " constructeur de ponts" entre les religions et souhaite que son ouverture au peuple juif "traverse l'Eglise tout entière". Dans sa réponse, le pape, parlant de la Shoah comme d'un "crime inouï et inimaginable" , insiste sur la nécessité absolue pour l'Eglise de réprouver toute discrimination. "C'est un devoir d'importance particulière dans la mesure où aujourd'hui, malheureusement, émergent de nouveaux signes d'antisémitisme."
           DIVERGENCES THÉOLOGIQUES
           "Votre visite est un pas vers la paix entre peuples, un signe contre l'antisémitisme de l'Eglise d'autrefois" , conclut le rabbin Teitelbaum, tourné vers la mère d'Abraham Lehrer, qui porte encore son numéro de matricule de camp tatoué sur le bras. "Jamais en 1944, à Auschwitz , elle n'aurait eu l'idée d'imaginer qu'un jour de 2005 son fils accueillerait le pape dans la synagogue de sa ville ." "Esprit d'Assise" et dialogue religieux encore, quelques heures plus tard à l'archevêché de Cologne, où le pape a rencontré une trentaine de responsables protestants, baptistes, méthodistes, luthériens, réformés et orthodoxes allemands. Paradoxalement, avec eux, Benoît XVI doit vaincre plus de méfiance en raison des souvenirs fâcheux laissés par l'ex-cardinal Ratzinger dans les milieux oecuméniques.
         D'entrée, le pape a renouvelé son intention de faire du retour à l'unité des Eglises une priorité. Insistant pour cela sur les progrès du dialogue, il a évité les sujets de polémique. Benoît XVI a déploré la division des Eglises sur les questions morales. La condamnation par l'Eglise catholique de l'avortement, de la contraception, de la procréation médicalement assistée ou du mariage entre homosexuels n'est pas partagée par les Eglises protestantes. " A cause de nos contradictions, dira-t-il , le témoignage évangélique et l'orientation éthique que nous devons donner à la société perdent de la force. Nous ne sommes plus crédibles."
         Toutefois, il n'a pas abordé les divergences théologiques à propos des mariages mixtes entre protestants et catholiques ou des célébrations communes, renvoyant cela à "l'exigence de la juste interprétation de la parole de Dieu". Benoît XVI reconnaît toutefois la "pénible situation" de certaines familles divisées en raison de leur confession. Mais, à Wolfgang Huber, chef de l'Eglise évangélique d'Allemagne (EKD) qui insistait pour voir traiter la question, en disant "on doit permettre à ces couples, nombreux en Allemagne, de trouver un foyer dans les Eglises ", le pape ne répondra que par quatre mots : "Sincérité et réalisme, patience et persévérance."
         Pas l'ombre d'une déception, pourtant, parmi ses interlocuteurs protestants. "Il s'est montré plus ouvert que nous ne l'attendions" , confiera l'un d'eux. "C'est un pape d'origine allemande qui connaît bien la situation allemande et ses 500 ans de division entre chrétiens, ajoute un autre. Jean Paul II venait d'un pays unanimement catholique et avait d'autres soucis sur son agenda, comme celui de libérer l'humanité des idéologies. Benoît XVI est un pape postidéologique ."

How hard it is to enter the kingdom of God (2005-Aug-16)
         As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.
           "You know the commandments, 'DO NOT MURDER , DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY , DO NOT STEAL , DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS , DO NOT DEFRAUD , HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER .' "
         And he said to Him, "Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up." Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."
         But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, "How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!" The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
         They were even more astonished and said to Him, "Then who can be saved?" Looking at them, Jesus said, "With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God." Peter began to say to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You."
         Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. "But many who are first will be last, and the last, first."
           [ Mark 10 : 17-31 ]

The Plunder of Tibet's Treasures (2005-Aug-02)          WASHINGTON -- The ancient Himalayan culture of Tibet -- already subject to strict controls from Beijing -- is suffering irreparable cultural losses amid increasing burglaries, looting and illegal trade in treasures from its tombs, monasteries and temples, scholars and local residents say. The growing trade in stolen Tibetan artifacts has in part been fueled by a rising tide of commercialism which seeks to exploit the region's cultural relics, often with the help of corrupt local officials, a recent investigative report by RFA's Mandarin service has found.          "The chief of the local precinct started digging in the very beginning," said one resident of the Tibetan-inhabited county of Dulan in China's northwestern Qinghai province, which is home to a large, and frequently robbed, complex of Tibetan tombs. "They arrested and sentenced many people at that time. However, up until now, the tomb robbery situation has not improved. They captured over 200 non-Tibetan farmers last year. Most of them belonged to the Hui [Muslim] nationality, but there were Hans as well," the Tibetan man said.

Tibetan Buddhist statuette Photo: Robert Aichinger

           Rampant tomb robbery
         The tombs in question are in the Haixi Mongolian-Tibetan Nationalities Autonomous Prefecture, an ancient Silk Road town, and the birthplace of Nuomuhong culture. Excavations have revealed gold coins from the eastern Roman empire, silver Persian coins and many Tibetan cultural relics. The State Cultural Relics Bureau of China listed them as one of the top 10 archeological discoveries of 1996. But that status has done little to protect them or their contents. Migrant workers from elsewhere in the region often pursued tomb robbery as a lucrative sideline to their jobs as construction workers, and the armed guards stationed at some of the tombs could not prevent them all, the Dulan county resident said.

Part of a traditional Tibetan mandala Photo: Oliver Petry

"They started implementing some anti-theft measures a few years ago," he told RFA's Investigative Report. "Nevertheless, these measures are not effective because the tombs are scattered relatively far apart along the slopes and most of them have been robbed empty." An officer at the Dulan county police station said police were committed to tackling the issue. "They have a specialized relic police precinct," the officer said. "They will definitely arrest any tomb robber." But local relics specialists lack resources to manage the treasures, which are rapidly slipping away under their very eyes.            Lack of funds for enforcement          "They cannot do anything," Haixi Prefecture Nationality Museum official Daba told RFA. "The road is rugged. It is about money, financial problems. Let's say you were the public security. You learn that someone is burgling the tomb and you go there but cannot find anybody. What can you do?" "For us, it is mainly a financial problem. We do not have money to manage the relics," he said.

         But the problem isn't only caused by criminal organizations. Government departments, academic institutions and private individuals both within China and overseas have contributed to the plunder over the past few decades, Tibetan scholars and Buddhist leaders told RFA. Beijing-based Han Chinese scholar Wang Lixiong, who has written several works on Tibetan issues, including the Sky Burial: The Fate of Tibet, says that the large-scale losses to Tibetan culture began with the state-sponsored destruction of the Cultural Revolution. "During the Mao era, they considered the artifacts dross and destroyed them. Now, they see them as merchandise and sell them. Speaking overall, either way, it is an abuse," Wang said. Many overseas scholars worry that Tibetan culture is gradually becoming extinct.
           Insiders help thieves
         Pema Wangyal, Professor of Tibetan Buddhism at Western University in Los Angeles, said there was widespread theft of and trafficking in Tibetan artifacts from Buddhist temples and monasteries, in which government officials frequently colluded with the traders and thieves. "The theft of artifacts is very common among large Tibetan temples but the government has not done much to investigate or report the issue," Pema Wangyal said. "For instance, seven precious gold bowls that served as the sacrificial lamps for the Buddha at the Taer Temple were stolen in the 1980s. I believe they were artifacts from the Ming Dynasty." "The matter was shelved in the end. This situation happens to temples in many places," he said. He said there was also a huge collection of precious Tibetan artifacts in the United States, in Washington D.C., in some U.S. museums, in schools of East Asian Study at many U.S. universities, and in some personal collections. "The Asian Museum in Los Angeles has many valuable exhibits," Pemal Wangyal added. "Some are from personal collections while others are obtained through unknown means. They have some priceless items, even from the Ming and Yuan Dynasties."
         He cited the case of an auction held in New York recently at which someone bought a rice steamer from the Tang Dynasty and a statue of a guardian warrior of the Buddha made of stonewood from the Ming Dynasty.
           Treasures appear overseas
         "I saw the statue myself. It cost U.S.$3.8 million," he told RFA reporter Bai Fan. Living Buddha Arjia Rinpoche, the original Abbot of the Taer Temple in Qinghai Region, now manages the Tibetan Center for Compassion and Wisdom in California. He said the problem had grown worse during the 1980s and 1990s. "A serious case happened to the Taer Temple while I was the Abbot there. I think it was on August 25, 1987," Arjia Rinpoche said. "The famous Wudan lamps made of pure gold were stolen... After that, the artifacts of the temple were burglarized one after another. During my term as Abbot, I went out on business one time and eight invaluable artifacts in our museum, including an ivory ball, were also stolen," he said. Taer Temple monk Monk Qirap, who works in the temple security office, said there were established networks for the illegal trade in Tibetan treasures. "The trafficking of stolen artifacts does exist," Qirap said. "Usually, they are transported to China by vehicle and shipped overseas through Guangzhou and Guangdong."
           More thefts in recent years
         Qirap confirmed an increase in the illegal art trade in recent years. "They mainly steal items such as statues of Buddha; ancient items that are valuable now. For example, statues of Buddha made of sulphonium and jade," he told RFA. Other observers point to the politics at work in Tibet, which was occupied by Chinese troops from 1949-1951, and has seen a major influx of ethnic Han Chinese who reap most of the benefits of the recent economic growth of recent years. Rinchin Tashi, a U.S.-based Tibetan scholar, believes that the Chinese government only wants control of Tibet, but does not treat the requests of the Tibetans for the return of their relics and personal properties seriously. "Even the higher levels of government seem not to care too much once you talk about personal property, human rights, and personal rights," Rinchin Tashi said.
         "Laws and policies are required for the better protection of Tibetan property. You can see that there isn't in fact much autonomy in the Tibetan Autonomous Region." "If they give the Tibetans a certain degree of autonomy and establish the rule of law across the country, then China will become a democratic country under the rule of law. Then, all the people living in the People's Republic of China, whether they are Tibetans or Hans, will be able to protect their personal property," he told RFA.

GOD vs BUDDHA ( PRÉCÉDENT )

camboDIATRIBE

COURRI@L 2005

AUTRES SITES KHMERS

KUN PIMOJ 's HOMEPAGE

PHN@M-P@NH-P@TINS

FRAN-GLO-GIBWÉ

CANADA 3 FOUNDERS

MES EMAILS 2003

THE 6 COMMANDMENTS

MEET WITH GOD

PEN Nearovi, Montréal, Québec, Canada
(nearovi@sympatico.ca)