Pope Francis: ‘Christian fraternal dialogue can be a model for today’s world’

 — Nov. 30, 202430 nov. 2024

In his traditional greetings to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on the occasion of the feast of Saint Andrew, Pope Francis calls for ongoing efforts and prayers for “the gift of unity” among Christians, remarking that their fraternity and witness can also serve as a model for today’s world “plagued by war and violence”.

Following a long-standing tradition, on the occasion of today’s Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, patron saint of Constantinople, Pope Francis has sent a delegation to Istanbul to convey his greetings and the assurance of his “fraternal affection” to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I.

The visit is part of the annual exchange of Delegations between the Holy See and the Patriarchate for their respective patronal feasts, on 29 June in Rome, the Feast of St. Peter and Paul, and on 30 November in Istanbul, Türkiye.

In his message, Pope Francis highlights listening without condemning as the primary path toward unity between Catholics and Orthodox Christians, expressing his hope that the upcoming celebrations 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea may offer an opportunity to strengthen the fraternal relations they have developed over the past six decades.

60 years of fruitful dialogue

The Pope begins the message by remarking the significant progress of Catholic-Orthodox dialogue since the promulgation of the Decree ‘Unitatis Redintegratio’ in 1964 which marked the Catholic Church’s official entry into the ecumenical movement.

He notes that one of the first fruits obtained in this dialogue is the “renewed fraternity” they experience today “with particular intensity.”

The ultimate goal of full communion

While acknowledging that the full Eucharistic communion envisioned by the Conciliar document has not been achieved yet, because “divisions dating back a millennium, cannot be resolved within a few decades”, the Pope stresses that Christians must not “lose sight of that ultimate goal”, nor can they “lose hope that this unity can be achieved in the course of history and within a reasonable time”.

A synodal approach to ecumenical dialogue

Pope Francis goes on to recall  that the Catholic Church’s “irreversible commitment to the path of dialogue” was further affirmed by the recent Synod on synodality in which participants, from different backgrounds, were able “to listen to each other without judging or condemning”.

This approach, he says, “should also be the manner in which Catholics and Orthodox continue their journey towards unity.”

Christian dialogue as a model for today’s divided world

Bringing his message to a close, Pope Francis states that the upcoming celebration of 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 2025 “will strengthen existing bonds and encourage all Churches to offer renewed testimony in today’s world.”

He remarks that the “fraternity lived and the witness given” by Christians will also serve as a model for a world “plagued by war and violence.” In this spirit, the Pope  concludes by reaffirming his hopes for peace in Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, and all regions across the world experiencing what his has repeatedly called “piecemeal world war.”

The Vatican delegation

The Vatican delegation is headed by Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity who delivered the Pope’s message to H.B Bartholomew on Saturday at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy held in the patriarchal church of St. George at the Phanar.

The delegation also included two senior officials of the Dicastery—Secretary Monsignor Flavio Pace, Undersecretary Monsignor Andrea Palmieri, and Apostolic Nuncio to Türkiye. Archbishop Marek Solczyński.


 

Posted: Nov. 30, 2024 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14394
Categories: Vatican NewsIn this article: Bartholomew I, Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Kurt Koch, Orthodox, Vatican
Transmis : 30 nov. 2024 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14394
Catégorie : Vatican NewsDans cet article : Bartholomew I, Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Kurt Koch, Orthodox, Vatican


Pope Francis and members of the Synod of Bishops on synodality attend the synod's final working session in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican

Final synod document is magisterial, pope says

 — Nov. 26, 202426 nov. 2024

Doubling down on the centrality of synodality in the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said that it is now up to local churches to accept and implement proposals from the final document approved by the Synod of Bishops on synodality.

Approved by the pope, the synod’s final document “participates in the ordinary magisterium of the successor of Peter, and as such, I ask that it be accepted,” the pope wrote in a note published by the Vatican Nov. 25.

“Local churches and groupings of churches are now called upon to implement, in different contexts, the authoritative indications contained in the document, through the processes of discernment and decision-making provided by law and by the document itself,” he wrote nearly a month after the synod’s close.

The final document outlined key priorities for the church, including increased participation of laity through new ministries and adjusted governing structures, greater transparency and accountability among church leadership and creating space for previously marginalized groups.

After synod members voted to approve the final document, Pope Francis announced that he would not write the customary apostolic exhortation after the synod but would instead offer the document to the entire church for implementation.
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Anne-Cathy Graber, with St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in the background. Graber was a fraternal delegate at the 2024 Synod of Bishops representing the Mennonite World Conference

Synod promotes Christian harmony

 — Nov. 20, 202420 nov. 2024

Anne-Cathy Graber was surprised when Mennonite World Conference received an invitation to send a delegate to the Roman Catholic Synod on Synodality’s concluding assembly in Rome.

“The invitation was amazing, considering how small the Mennonite world is,” said Graber, secretary for ecumenical relations for MWC.

Graber, 60, is an itinerant Mennonite pastor in France. She was tapped by MWC general secretary Cesar Garcia to be one of the 16 fraternal delegates from Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed, Baptist, Mennonite, Pentecostal and Disciples of Christ churches at the synod.

As a fraternal delegate at the Oct. 2-26 assembly, Graber — who is also co-director of the Chair of Ecumenical Theology at the Faculties Loyola Paris and a member of a religious order that promotes Christian unity — could fully participate in discussions with 368 delegates from around the world. The only thing she could not do was vote.
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A Five-Point Agenda for Renewed Canadian Action on Nuclear Disarmament

A Five-Point Agenda for Renewed Canadian Action on Nuclear Disarmament

 — Nov. 20, 202420 nov. 2024

On October 24, 2024, Canada’s four leading nuclear disarmament organizations—the Canadian Pugwash Group, the Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Canadians for a Nuclear Weapons Convention, and Project Ploughshares—convened an expert Roundtable on “Nuclear Disarmament in Times of Unprecedented Risk.” This was the second extraordinary roundtable held in response to rapidly escalating nuclear threats. The convening organizations share the profound conviction that Canada must urgently reassert its voice and leadership in the global disarmament arena.

The world now stands on the razor’s edge of the most severe nuclear weapons threat since the Cold War. Recent years have seen a deep erosion of the global nuclear arms control and disarmament framework, marked by the collapse of critical treaties, advances in destabilizing weapons technologies, record-breaking expenditures in conventional arms, and an alarming resurgence of great-power competition.
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An Ecumenical Prayer Vigil took place on Friday, 11 October, in the Square of the Roman Protomartyrs at the Vatican, attended by Pope Francis and participants in the second session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops from 2-27 October 2024

Ecumenical Prayer Vigil on the occasion of the Synod 2024

 — Oct. 14, 202414 oct. 2024

An Ecumenical Prayer Vigil took place on Friday, 11 October, in the Square of the Roman Protomartyrs at the Vatican, attended by Pope Francis and participants in the second session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (2-27 October 2024).

In his introductory remarks, Cardinal Koch, Prefect of the DPCU, recalled that this day marked the anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and also highlighted the 60th anniversary of the publication of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, and the Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio.
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Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the synod, and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, relator general of the synod, attend a news conference at the Vatican to present the calendar and list of participants for the second session of the ongoing Synod of Bishops

Second synod session to open with penitential liturgy

 — Sept. 16, 202416 sept. 2024

The second session of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, set to bring 368 bishops, priests, religious and laypeople to the Vatican, will begin by asking forgiveness for various sins on behalf of all the baptized.

As synod members did before last year’s session, they will spend two days on retreat before beginning work; that period of reflection will conclude Oct. 1 with a penitential liturgy presided over by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican announced.
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General Secretary Michael Blair took this picture of The Very Rev., The Honourable Dr. Lois M. Wilson on her 95th birthday.

Trailblazer Lois Wilson Dies, Age 97

 — Sept. 13, 202413 sept. 2024

With great sadness, The United Church of Canada announces the death of The Very Rev., The Honourable Dr. Lois M. Wilson, the denomination’s 28th Moderator, and the first woman to fill the role. She faithfully served as Moderator from 1980 to 1982. Rev. Wilson died in hospital in Fredericton, NB, on Sept. 13, 2024. She was 97 years old.

Her faith drove her actions, and she remained involved in the work of the Church right to the end.
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Synaxis of the Hierarchy of the Ecumenical Throne, 1-3 September 2024, Ecumenical Patriarchate, Istanbul

Ecumenical Patriarch advocates for common Pascha/Easter date

 — Sept. 12, 202412 sept. 2024

His All-Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has noted that the Easter celebrations in 2025 “will not merely be a fortuitous occurrence, but rather the beginning of a unified date for its observance by both Eastern and Western Christianity.”

The Ecumenical Patriarch said that this aspiration is particularly significant in light of the upcoming 1700th anniversary in 2025, marking the convening of the First Ecumenical Synod in Nicaea.
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Participants in a Catholic-evangelical dialogue are pictured in an undated photo. They are Ben Homan, Jonathan Ciraulo, Dawn Eden Goldstein, Craig Higgins, Dominican Father Ignatius Schweitzer, Alexei Laushkin, Miranda Cruz, Howard Snyder and Nathan Smith. On Aug. 28, the group released a one-page document, 'The Gift of Being Christian Together: An Ecumenical Statement of Fidelity and Recognition,' which identifies areas of common ground among the two largest Christian groups in the world.

Catholics, evangelicals explore common ground rooted in shared ‘love of Jesus Christ’

 — Sept. 10, 202410 sept. 2024

A group of Catholics and evangelicals has released a one-page document that identifies areas of common ground among the two largest Christian groups in the world.

The Gift of Being Christian Together: An Ecumenical Statement of Fidelity and Recognition” is “the fruit of a new ecumenical dialogue,” according to a news release from Glenmary Home Missioners in Cincinnati on the document.

“At the most basic level, Catholics and evangelicals share a love of Jesus Christ,” said Alexei Laushkin, founder of Kingdom Mission Society, an evangelical organization that helped spearhead the effort.
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Frs. Pierre Ducharme, OFM., Daniel Ouellet, Fabio de Souza and Raymond Lafontaine all helped to orchestrate the Canadian National Online Gathering for Priests video conference on Aug. 14. Pictured are them with theologian Gilles Routhier (second from right) at the Vatican's Parish Priests of the Synod Meeting from April 28-May 2

Synodal gathering gets to heart of the Church

 — Aug. 20, 202420 aoüt 2024

Unleashing congregants’ talents and leadership abilities, embracing open-minded listening and fostering synodality at the parish and diocesan levels were prominent topics of conversation during the Canadian National Online Gathering for Priests video conference Aug. 14.

Approximately “80 to 90 per cent” of the 100 priests invited tuned in for presentations from Frs. Fabio de Souza of Calgary, Pierre Ducharme, OFM., from Richmond, B.C and Quebec’s Daniel Ouellet, all of whom participated in the Vatican’s Parish Priests for the Synod spring meeting.

Attendees were then divided into 21 small groups for discussion. Each grouping featured four priests and one facilitator. All but four of the moderators — two priests and two religious sisters — were lay Catholics.
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