Source: The Catholic Register BY FRANCIS X. ROCCA VATICAN CITY – Almost every papal trip abroad is a complex mix of the religious and political, and that will be especially true of Pope Francis’ Nov. 28-30 visit to Turkey. Given the country’s crucial geographic position straddling Europe and Asia, its historic importance for both Christianity and Islam and the wars now raging in neighbouring Syria and Iraq, Pope Francis will have to address a variety of urgent topics during his three-day visit. Here are five of the biggest issues that await him: — ECUMENISM. Like his predecessors Blessed Paul VI, St.…
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Source: PBS TRANSCRIPT BELOW KIM LAWTON, correspondent: At the Greek Orthodox Church of the Archangels in Istanbul, Sunday morning worship unfolds as it has for centuries. Christians here say the ancient liturgy and the images that fill the sanctuary help connect them to the roots of their faith. Several books of the New Testament were written in what is now Turkey, and many foundational Christian doctrines were established here. FATHER VISSARION KOMZIAS (St. George Patriarchal Church): So the presence of the Christianity is from the very, very, very beginning. Here the Christianity starts and never ends. LAWTON: On this Sunday, presiding over…
Source: The Catholic World Report The Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev not only misrepresents Catholic practice and history, he also misrepresents Orthodox practice and history. by Dr. Adam A. J. DeVille Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, the “foreign affairs minister” of the Russian Orthodox Church, is, as George Weigel observed recently in First Things, a talented man, “charming and witty.” However, the gifted Hilarion, Weigel rightly noted, “does not always speak the truth.” Hilarion is rather like the Energizer Bunny: he goes on and on and on repeating tirelessly whatever pernicious propaganda the Russians want to spread. He has three channels to choose…
Source: Al-Monitor by Susanne Güsten As Ankara prepares to receive Pope Francis on Nov. 28-30, Turkish media have noted with raised eyebrows that Turkish affairs do not appear to be uppermost on the pope’s mind. “It was conspicuous that the pope chose to speak of the ‘Ecumenical Patriarchate’ and ‘Constantinople’ rather than of Turkey,” when referring to the destination of his upcoming visit, the daily Milliyet pointed out huffily. It is a Turkish delusion of grandeur to believe that the spiritual leader of over a billion Catholics around the world should see, one and a half years into his papacy and before…
Source: World Council of Churches Dr Tamara Grdzelidze, an Orthodox theologian and former staff member of the World Council of Churches (WCC), has been received as the nation of Georgia’s new ambassador to the Holy See, presenting her credentials to Pope Francis at the Vatican this September. From January 2001 through December 2013, Grdzelidze served in Geneva, Switzerland, as a programme executive for the WCC Commission on Faith and Order, which coordinates dialogue among Christian leaders on matters related to theology, doctrine and the nature of the church. Among the gifts she presented to Pope Francis was a copy of…
Source: Orthodox Heritage By a Greek Orthodox priest “But if,” they say, “we had devised some middle ground between the dogmas (of the Papists and the Orthodox), then thanks to this we would have united with them and accomplished our business superbly, without at all having been forced to say anything except what corresponds to custom and has been handed down (by the Fathers).” This is precisely the means by which many, from of old, have been deceived and persuaded to follow those who have led them off the steep precipice of impiety; believing that there is some middle ground…
Source: The Daily Beast by Candida Moss Meeting the head of the Eastern Orthodox church, the pope set a date for a third historic meeting of Christian factions—a savvy move to control how his successors lead. After all the speculation surrounding Pope Francis’s ability to engineer peace on his big Middle East trip, the biggest news from the visit came from his visit with Patriarch Bartholomew I, the primary leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Not to gloat, but we totally called it. Following the meeting, Bartholomew gave an interview in which he said that he and Francis are planning a gathering in 2025 in…
Source: United Press International (UPI) Pope Francis on married priests: “The door is always open.” By Matt Bradwell BETHESDA, Md., June 6 (UPI) –A group of Catholic and Orthodox theologians is calling on Pope Francis to end the Catholic church’s prohibition of married men within the priesthood for members of the faith who practice in Eastern Catholic churches. Eastern Catholic and Orthodox churches recognize the divine authority of the papacy, but often have different ceremonial practices and cultural traditions. In most of the world, Eastern priests are allowed to wed, but in North America they are not. In a statement released Friday, The…
Source: Orthodox Church in America His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew met with Pope Francis for the final time on the Mount of Olives on Monday, May 26, 2014. At the site known as Viri Galilaei—mentioned in Acts 1.11—the Patriarch and the Pontiff met for the third and final time during their joint pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land. With the echo of Paschal hymns in the distance, they conferred on a variety of issues, including ecumenical dialogue, environmental ethics, interfaith relations, and religious freedom and human rights. They sealed their pilgrimage and fraternal exchange by reaffirming their commitment to…
Source: Catholic Herald (UK) By STAFF REPORTER 1. Like our venerable predecessors Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras who met here in Jerusalem fifty years ago, we too, Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, were determined to meet in the Holy Land “where our common Redeemer, Christ our Lord, lived, taught, died, rose again, and ascended into Heaven, whence he sent the Holy Spirit on the infant Church” (Common communiqué of Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras, published after their meeting of 6 January 1964). Our meeting, another encounter of the Bishops of the Churches of Rome and Constantinople founded…
Source: Reuters (Reuters) – When Pope Francis meets the spiritual head of the world’s Orthodox Christians next week, the speeches and symbolism will focus on how these ancient western and eastern wings of Christianity want to come closer together. After almost a millennium apart, however, the key to the elusive unity they seek does not lie in Jerusalem, where the Catholic pope and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will embrace on May 25. If anywhere, that key lies in Moscow. The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), by far the largest church in the Orthodox world and increasingly influential at home and abroad, has…
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America APOSTOLIC PILGRIMAGE TO JERUSALEM The meeting of Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in the City of Jerusalem May 23-27, 2014 A Historic Meeting Learn about the purpose of the historic meeting between Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Jerusalem. On Sunday, May 25. 2014, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Francis will meet at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to commemorate a meeting in the Holy Land fifty years ago by their revered predecessors, Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras and Pope Paul VI. The historic meeting in 1964 marked the beginning of a new era in the relations between…