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(Vatican Radio) Government officials and relatives have unveiled a memorial in The Netherlands to nearly 300 family members died when a passenger plane was shot down by a missile over conflict-torn eastern Ukraine. It happened Monday on the third anniversary of the crash amid new revelations and international appeals to Russia to support a criminal investigation.

Listen to the report by Stefan Bos:

More than 2,000 relatives gathered here in Vijfhuizen park, near Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, for a somber ceremony. They recalled that 298 passengers and crew were killed when a Malaysia Airlines airplane was shot down during what should have been a routine flight from Schiphol to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014.

Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima, as well as other government officials, attended the ceremony to dedicate a new memorial to those who died. 

Most of the passengers were Dutch, but there were people of 17 nationalities on board the Boeing 777, including Australians, Britons, Malaysians, and Indonesians.

A total of 298 trees were planted in the shape of a green ribbon -- one for each of the 283 passengers and 15 crew. Organizers call it a "living memorial" and memorial forest. 

GOLDEN GLOW 

The trees will be surrounded by sunflowers, which bloom in July and will "radiate a golden glow" over the site, organizers said. Evert van Zijtveld, lost his 18-year-old son, 19-year-old daughter and parents-in-law in the tragedy. "In this amphitheater, you see the memorial forest. In the middle of the wall of this memorial, you see an opening. That allows sunlight to shine through," he told spectators. "Our loved ones together went on a journey on July 17, 2014, and this memorial forest symbolically unites them again," Zijtveld added. 

The ceremony was held amid reports that Russia closed airspace up to 16 kilometers high in a nearby region on the eve of the tragedy. An international investigative team concluded last year that the Russian-made Buk missile system that was used to down the airliner had been brought into Ukraine from Russia shortly before it was shot down and then quickly smuggled back to Russia afterward. 

It said the missile was fired from a field in the separatist-held territory. But during a religious ceremony held near the site where the plane came down, pro-Russian separatists denied wrong doing. "We demand an objective investigation into the circumstances of this accident," said Municipal official Alexej Sjvydki. "The junta in Kiev has to be held accountable for all those who died."   

Australia has now urged Russia to cooperate with new moves to prosecute suspected perpetrators, who brought down the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine. 

But three years on, the investigation is far from being concluded. 

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Prizren, Serbia, Jul 17, 2017 / 11:52 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis on Saturday appointed Cardinal Ernest Simoni to be his delegate at the consecration of a cathedral dedicated to St. Teresa of Calcutta in Pristina, the capital of the self-declared state of Kosovo.

The consecration will take place Sept. 5, 2017, the 20th anniversary of the death of St. Teresa of Calcutta, and just one year after her canonization in Rome by Pope Francis.

Though in use by Catholics in the area since 2010, the consecration will mark the shrine’s formal dedication to Mother Teresa.

Cardinal Simoni, 88, is a priest of the Archdiocese of Shkodrë-Pult. He is one of the last survivors of the communist persecution in Albania.

Cardinal Simoni was a seminarian in December 1944, when an atheistic communist regime came to power in Albania. In 1948, communists shot and killed his Franciscan superiors. He continued his studies in secret and was later ordained a priest.

Four years later, communist leaders gathered together priests who had survived and offered them freedom if they distanced themselves from the Pope and the Vatican. Cardinal Simoni and his brother priests refused.

On Dec. 24, 1963, as he was concluding Mass, four officials served him an arrest warrant and decree of execution. He was handcuffed and detained. During interrogation, they told him he would be hanged as an enemy because he told the people, “We will all die for Christ if necessary.”

He suffered immense torture, but said “the Lord wanted me to keep living.” He was later freed from the death sentence and given 28 years of forced labor instead, during which time he celebrated Mass, heard confessions, and distributed Communion in secret.

Cardinal Simoni was released only when the communist regime fell and freedom of religion was recognized. Pope Francis made him a cardinal in the consistory of Nov. 19, 2016.

Built in an neo-renaissance and Italianate style of architecture, the Church of St. Teresa of Calcutta will eventually have two bell towers, each 230 feet tall, making it one of the tallest buildings in the city.

It's stained-glass windows include depictions of St. Teresa of Calcutta with St. John Paul II, and Pope Francis embracing Benedict XVI.

Begun in 2007, it is the main Catholic church in Kosovo, though it is still partially under construction.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February 2008, and its independence is recognized by the United States, much of western Europe, as well as by other countries across the globe.

There are approximately 65,000 Catholics out of a population of roughly 2 million in Kosovo. They are mainly ethnic Albanians, like St. Teresa of Calcutta. There are also some Eastern Orthodox, but the area is majority Muslim.

Most Catholics in Kosovo live in Pristina, as well as the cities of Klina, Gjakove/Djakovica, Viti and Prizren, where St. Teresa of Calcutta's parents were from.

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Caracas, Venezuela, Jul 17, 2017 / 01:53 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Armed civilians who support the Venezuelan regime opened fire against a large crowd of protestors who were participating in a symbolic referendum in Caracas on Sunday.

The incident forced hundreds to seek refuge inside Our Lady of Mount Carmel church where they stayed until the local archbishop Cardinal Jorje Urosa Savino mediated their safe exit. One person died from gunshot wounds and several others were injured.

Swaths of locals who oppose the current leadership called for a “consultation of the people” on July 16 to protest President Nicolas Maduro's plans to rewrite the country's constitution on July 30. Some 7 million people participated in Sunday's protest.

In the wake of Nicolas Maduro succeeding former socialist president Hugo Chavez after the latter died from cancer in 2013, the country has been marred by violence and social upheaval.

Poor economic policies, including strict price controls, coupled with high inflation rates, have resulted in a severe lack of basic necessities such as toilet paper, milk, flour, diapers and medicines.

Venezuela's socialist government is widely blamed for the crisis. Since 2003, price controls on some 160 products, including cooking oil, soap and flour, have meant that while they are affordable, they fly off store shelves only to be resold on the black market at much higher rates.

The Venezuelan government is known to be among the most corrupt in Latin America, and violent crime in the country has spiked since Maduro took office.

On July 16, Cardinal Urosa had celebrated Mass in the church located in the Catia section of Caracas. The incident took place following the service.

In concluding the Angelus prayer this Sunday at the Vatican, Pope Francis said he is keeping the people of Venezuela in his prayers.

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Robert Duncan

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- To understand the current situation in Iraq -- the evolving and complex conflicts there, and the fear and resilience of its Christians -- one has to understand its past, which is often ignored or unknown in the West, said a former papal representative to the country.

"History is itself a victory over ignorance, marginalization and intolerance; it is a call for respect and to not repeat the mistakes of the past," said Cardinal Fernando Filoni in his book, "The Church in Iraq."

The book is also "a testimonial" to the victims of "the Islamic terrorism of ISIS," he told the Christians and non-Christians he met when Pope Francis sent him as his personal representative to encounter and pray with these shaken communities that fled the Islamic State.

That brief visit in 2014 was a homecoming of sorts.

The Italian cardinal, now 71, lived in Iraq during a time of great tension and turmoil. St. John Paul II made him the apostolic nuncio -- the pope's diplomatic representative -- to Iraq and Jordan in January 2001. Several months later, after 9/11, the United States administration started building pressure against Iraq, pushing for military action.

St. John Paul firmly opposed military intervention and, despite the fact that he sent peace-seeking missions to Washington and Baghdad, the United States attacked.

"Not even the stern warning of the saint-pope could deter President George W. Bush from his purpose," the cardinal wrote. He said the day of the invasion, March 19, 2003, became "a very sad day for Iraq and for the whole world."

The nunciature never shut down, not even during the airstrikes and occupation or the ensuing chaos of looting and revenge.

It was during his tenure there in Baghdad, which ended in 2006, that Cardinal Filoni went through the nunciature's archives, which housed "a rich history" of documentation and letters, detailing the history of the Vatican's diplomatic relations with Iraq and the establishment of an episcopal see in Baghdad in the 16th century.

"Naturally, this caught my eye," he said, and the idea for a book emerged there in the wealth of material buried in an archive.

The book's chapters take a historical overview of the church's long presence in Mesopotamia, dating back to the time of St. Thomas the Apostle, and looks at how the expanding early Christian communities there evolved, faced internal divisions and challenges, and still shared their unique gifts.

Looking at the church's journey in the past also made him realize: "This is unknown to us. And so I thought, writing a book that traced, especially for us in the West, the birth, the evolution of this history up to present day could be ... of service to Christianity in the Middle East, particularly in Mesopotamia, which is suffering because of expulsions, persecution or discrimination."

Published first in Italian in 2015, The Catholic University of America Press is releasing the English edition toward the end of July in the United States and in mid-August in the United Kingdom.

The cardinal spoke to Catholic News Service in Rome during an interview at the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, where he has served as prefect since 2011.

The book looks particularly at how minorities and the country as a whole suffered invasions, despots and Western hegemony, and yet tenaciously held on to its cultures and religious identities.

"In order to defend their identity within this great sea of Islam, Christians had to withdraw into themselves, keeping their own language, which dates back to the time of Jesus, that is, Aramaic," he said. While, over the centuries, the everyday spoken language developed into different dialects, the liturgy still maintained the original form of ancient Aramaic, he added.

Even though Christians held on to their traditions and culture, they were "truly open" and didn't ignore the world around them, learning and speaking Arabic, for example, he said.

This kind of everyday contact between Christians and their Muslim neighbors also led to a sharing of ideas, influence and mutual respect on the local level, Cardinal Filoni said.

For example, he recalled when he lived in Baghdad, he visited a church dedicated to Mary in a predominantly Muslim neighborhood.

"I was astounded by the fact that the walls of this church were dirty" with what looked like handprints smudged everywhere, he said.

When he asked church members, "'Why don't you clean this?' They said 'No! Because these are the signs of the Muslim women who come to pray to Mary, mother of Jesus, and as a sign of their prayer, they leave an imprint of their hand.'"

Since Mary is revered by Muslims, he said many expectant mothers visit this church to pray to her for protection.

"This influence, for example of Mary, in people's daily lives" and similar devotions to prayer, fasting and charity, fostered closer relationships, mutual respect and understanding between Christians and Muslims, he said.

"A modern Iraq, full of history, of possibility and responsibility -- not least because of its huge oil resources, which continue to be a source of discord, jealousy, envy, and oppression -- should be defended, helped, and supported more than ever," the cardinal concludes in his book.

While the primary responsibility for allowing Muslim, Christian and other minorities to return to their country and help build its future belongs to Iraq's three largest communities -- Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds -- the rest of the world is also "in some way responsible for this crisis," he told CNS.

"We all have to assume responsibility to rebuild, which is very difficult, because once people emigrate, they very rarely go back," he said. "But if we can still preserve the coexistence of these even small communities (that remain), this will benefit peace, which is essential so that Christians don't keep leaving behind this ancient land so rich in culture, tradition and history."

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Editors: Book can be ordered through the Catholic University of America Press website: cuapress.org or call 1-800-537-5487. In Europe, the CUA book distributor is Eurospan: www.eurospanbookstore.com or call +44 0 1767-604972

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Follow Glatz on Twitter: @CarolGlatz.

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