Tehran Cardinal at Easter: ‘Christ brings new life, even amid trials’

As the Iran war continues to escalate with deeper suffering for civilians, the Cardinal Archbishop of Tehran expresses his hopes that our new life in Christ will encourage Iranian Christians to endure the trials of the present.

Cardinal Mathieu, Archbishop of Tehran, attended a prayer vigil in Rome on March 31, 2026

Cardinal Dominique Joseph Mathieu, Archbishop of the Latin Archdiocese of Tehran-Isfahan, joined Pope Leo XIV and many of his brother Cardinals at St. Peter’s Basilica for the Easter celebrations.

The Cardinal Archbishop announced on March 9 that he had fled to Rome along with the staff of the Italian embassy to Iran “not without regret and sorrow” after the outbreak of the Iran war.

After celebrating Easter in Rome, Cardinal Mathieu wrote a message to the faithful of his diocese, which includes all of Iran’s Latin rite Catholics, to assure them of his spiritual closeness.

In his message, published on Easter Monday by the Vatican’s Fides news agency, the Cardinal said his Easter experience was marked by “the perception of the relativity of distance” and the juxtaposition of closeness and remoteness.

“I find myself far from you, the flock entrusted to me, separated by the events of war, waiting to be able to find you again,” he said. “And yet, on the holy night, I celebrated the Easter Vigil carrying all of you in my heart: far from my flock, but, precisely for this reason, in a mysterious way, close to each one of you.”

Cardinal Mathieu said he stood beneath the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, “under the sign of the universal Church, in visible communion with the Successor of Peter and with the whole of catholicity.”

In that experience, the Cardinal said he realized that his physical distance from his flock offers him an opportunity to live remoteness as a bridge that unites all Christians in Christ.

“In the communion of the Saints and in the grace of the Sacraments, above all in the Eucharist, we are truly united, even when we cannot be so visibly,” he said. “What appears to the eyes as distance, in faith, becomes communion.”

The Easter Vigil marks the boundary from night and light, he reflected, calling it a night illuminated by the reflected light of Christ, like the moon, which recalls the Virgin Mary.

“Just as the moon reflects the light of the sun, so she points back to the source of all life: her Son, Jesus Christ, true God and true man,” he said.

Cardinal Mathieu recalled the transformation of the women who discovered Jesus’ empty tomb, as they fled the memory of death and darkness filled with “holy fear that opens to faith.”

As Christians await the final resurrection, “this ‘future’ resurrection must be held together with the mystery already present: the resurrection at work in the life of the believer through grace,” said the Cardinal. “In the Risen Christ, the new life has already begun, even if it still passes through trial.”

Cardinal Mathieu expressed his heartfelt closeness to the Latin rite Catholics of Iran, as they look forward to the day when they may once again enjoy physical closeness.

“In Christ, living and risen, closeness and remoteness are transfigured,” concluded the Cardinal Archbishop of Tehran. “Only He remains, who unites us, keeps us, and guides us, until we may once again be gathered as one flock under one Shepherd.”

Devin Watkins
Source: vaticannews.va/en