Posted on 11/30/2014 9:27:34 AM PST by marshmallow
Vatican's chief ecumenical officer speaks about implications of this weekend's papal visit
Pope Francis and Ecumencial Patriarch Bartholomew will sign a joint declaration Sunday, confirming the growing relationship between the long-separated Churches of Rome and Constantinople.
The Pope's visit comes just six months after he and Bartholomew met in Jerusalem and singed a Joint Declaration about their commitment to the search for Christian unity.
Accompanying Pope Francis on the journey to Turkey is the head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch, who said in a Vatican Radio interview this week that first of all ithe papal visit will be another step in deepening the good relations that already exist between Rome and Constantinople.
He also pointed out that since Pope Paul VI went to Constantinople in 1967, every Pope had made a visit in the second year of his pontificate: Pope St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI. The Swiss cardinal speaks of a long tradition of mutual visits: “The Catholic Church visits Constantinople on the Feast of St. Andrew on November 30, and a high delegation comes to Rome to celebrate the Feast of SS. Peter and Paul on June 29.
Cardinal Koch agrees that the strong personal friendship between the Pope and the Patriarch can help strengthen this engagement because, he says, the Ecumenical Patriarch is a very good help for him. “There are some tendencies in the International Commission [for Catholic-Orthodox dialogue] that say we must leave the ecumenical theological dialogue and have a good collaboration in other issues. But the Patriarch says we have the duty to deepen the theological questions, and that is also my opinion and commitment and I am very grateful for the help of the Ecumenical Patriarch
(Excerpt) Read more at aleteia.org ...
What I’d like to hear is Greece tell Turkey that they will open the seminary in exchange for a promise that Greece and the rest of Europe will not invade and reclaim Istanbul.
Turkey is a mess. NO ONE is his right mind would want to live there. Reclaim Istanbul? Please, anything the Muslims touch turns to dirty.
CLEANLINESS is a Christian ethos, not a Muslim, middle eastern, Arab, Turkish or ASIAN ethos.
Exception: the Japanese are as CLEAN as Asia is filthy. How did that happen? [Rhetorical.]
Tuck Furkey.
One day Greece is going to rise again and take back Northern Cyprus and Constantinople from their illegal occupiers...
Once again, the loving tolerant Mohammedans would allow Greece to exist, as long as they erect a minaret in Athens!
Gooooollllyy!
Since present-day Turkey, is nothing more than a modernized part of PERSIA, and AGAIN, they threaten GREECE, I am expecting the Athens government, to tell Turkey to go play with their alimentary canal!
How about a Christian church in Mecca or even Saudi Arabia?
I’d like to see an annex of the St Peters build on top of the moon rock in mecca before any moozlums are allowed to leave their loser countries. It would only be fair.
Well this article is a little misleading. The Turkish government wants a mosque in Greece, whereas the Patriarch (who is mentioned in the first couple paragraphs) is a part of the CHRISTIAN Orthodox Church. Poor writing skills there.
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