Solidarity extended across Arab, international, and religious levels. The crime was condemned by the Chief Justice Department, the General Iftaa Department, the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs and Holy Sites, and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar. Messages of condolence and condemnation followed from churches around the world, the Middle East Council of Churches, and the World Council of Churches. It was moving to see Jordanians bid farewell to the martyrs on Sunday at the same church, while the Pope appeared from his window at the Vatican, expressing his spiritual closeness to Jordan and praising its mutual respect among followers of religions.
For twenty-seven years, His Majesty King Abdullah II has carried the burden of defending the Christian presence and its authentic Arab identity, and protecting the true image of Islam from the distortion of terrorism and extremism. He recently said before the United Nations: "We will protect Christianity in its homeland, and defend the true image of Islam." I recall His Majesty's words in 2013 before participants in a conference he called for, in the presence of Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran: "Defending the Arab Christian identity is not a luxury, but a duty."
Today, we must not look to the future with fear. Two days later, security services were able to arrest three suspects from the same family. Security and judicial measures remain necessary, but they alone are not enough. The most difficult battle is intellectual, educational, and cultural: How do we prevent takfiri ideas from infiltrating minds, and uproot the seeds of hatred before they turn into extremism and terrorism? And how do we teach generations that religious difference is a civilizational richness and not a threat?
Jordan has a solid track record in this field: the Amman Message in 2004, the "A Common Word" initiative in 2007—the twentieth anniversary of which we will commemorate next year—and the World Interfaith Harmony Week in 2010. During His Majesty's reign, Jordan has hosted three Popes: John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis, and in 2014, it embraced Christians displaced from Mosul.
The Christians of Jordan, who are a numerical minority but not a "minority" in status, take pride in their belonging to their homeland and their historical participation in building it. Today, Jordan is preparing, in cooperation between the government and the churches, to celebrate in 2030 the two-thousandth anniversary of the baptism of Jesus Christ, to present to the world a message of peace and harmony.
As for me, when I visited Saint George Church on the day the martyrs were buried, and heard the prayers and hymns in both the Orthodox and Melkite Catholic rites, I contemplated the icon of the martyr George as he pierced the dragon, the symbol of evil. I raised my eyes toward the new martyrs of the church, and said in my conscience:
Beloved new martyrs, we ask for your prayers and intercession for Jordan, its Hashemite leadership, its people, and all of humanity. Help us so that love remains stronger than hatred, unity stronger than strife, and life stronger than death.
