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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

VATICAN CITY, 30 NOV 2011 (VIS) - Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, is leading a delegation sent by the Holy See to Istanbul to participate in celebrations marking the Feast of St. Andrew, patron of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Holy See and the Patriarchate exchange regular annual visits for the feast days of their respective patrons.

The Holy See delegation to this year's celebration - which coincides with the twentieth anniversary of the election of His Holiness Bartholomew I as Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople - is made up of Cardinal Koch; Bishop Brian Farrell, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity; Fr. Andrea Palmieri, an official of the same dicastery, and Archbishop Antonio Lucibello, apostolic nuncio to Turkey. The group attended a divine liturgy celebrated by Bartholomew I in the patriarchal church of Fanar, then met with the Patriarch and the synodal commission which oversees relations with the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Koch gave Bartholomew I a gift and a message from the Holy Father. In the message, which was read out at the end of the divine liturgy, Benedict XVI recalls his most recent meeting with the Patriarch during last month's Day of Prayer for Peace in the Italian town of Assisi. "I give thanks to the Lord for having allowed me to strengthen the bonds of sincere friendship and true brotherhood which unite us, and to bear witness before the entire world to the broad vision we share".

The message continues: "The present cultural, social, economic, political and religious circumstances place exactly the same challenges before Catholics and Orthodox. Announcing the mystery of salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ needs to undergo deep renewal in many regions which once accepted the light but are now suffering the effects of secularisation which impoverishes man in his deepest dimension. Faced with this emergency we must show all mankind that we have achieved a maturity in the faith, that we are capable of coming together despite human tensions, thanks to our joint search for truth and with the awareness that the future of evangelisation depends upon the witness of unity and the level of charity the Church can show".

The Pope concludes by asking the Lord that, through the intercession of Sts. Andrew, Peter and Paul, both Church may receive "the gift of unity which comes from on high".

MESS/       VIS 20111130 (410)

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

New York - His Beatitude Sviatoslav on November 20, 2011, received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities (Honoris Causa) at the Fordham University in the USA. On the same day in the University Church the coat-of-arms of Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, Major Archbishop Emeritus, was unveiled and blessed. The blessing was read by the UGCC primate and Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan, President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“This honorary doctorate is a reward not for me but for my church of martyrs,” said the head of the UGCC at the ceremony. “It is a service I borrowed from my predecessors and carry out as head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Despite all the hatred and humiliation it encountered, it remained a true Church of the Risen Christ. It is this church that sent me to you today, and especially for it, for its Christian wisdom and intellectual life, this award is being conferred.”

At the ceremony, the following words were said about the primate: “Cherishing the dream of his glorious predecessors and being elected to implement his own vision of the church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav is responsible for the pastoral care of the souls of the faithful of the church, which has more than 5.5 million believers worldwide. This dynamic young leader has made extremely important steps to strengthen his flock in the world. He continues to use pastoral visits, social media and sermons to spread his message of unity in faith. The vision of His Beatitude truly inspires.”

Founded in 1841, Fordham is a Jesuit University in New York that offers education, typical of the Jesuit tradition, to about 14,700 students. Many famous figures have received honorary doctorates from the university, such as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, American diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello who died in Iraq, and Tom Brokaw, former host of NBS Nightly News.

UGCC Information Department

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

CWNews.com - Maronite Catholic Patriarch Bechara Rai has renewed his warnings that the “Arab Spring” uprisings in the Middle East could lead to the emergence of more militant Islamic regimes.

While welcoming some aspects of the “Arab Spring” phenomenon, such as the demands for an end to corruption, and the revival of national pride, the Lebanese prelate voiced his fear that the popular movements “may lead to confessional conflicts, the rise of harsher regimes, and a confessional division of the region.”

The Maronite Patriarch said that nations should not be defined in terms of religious identity. “We must oppose Islamic exclusivism in the identity of our countries as much as Israel’s Jewishness,” he said.

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CWNews.com - As hundreds of Coptic Christians marched in Cairo to protest recent violence by Egyptian security forces, assailants threw bottles and stones at the marchers and clashed with them. Agence France Presse reported that 25 people were “lightly injured.”

Writing in The New York Times, André Aciman--an Egyptian-born Jew who teaches at CUNY--reviews other instances of violence and discrimination against Christians and Jews in Egypt.

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

CWNews.com - In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Florentin Crihalmeanu of Cluj-Gherla--who was ordained a priest at 31 and a consecrated a bishop by Blessed John Paul II at 37--recalled Romanian Communists’ attempts to liquidate the Romanian Greek Catholic Church.

In 1946, “the Communists convoked what they called a ‘synod’ of the clergy stating that it was a meeting to re-evaluate the union with Rome … They said that all Greek Catholics would now be Orthodox and decreed, on the 1st of December, that all Greek Catholic institutions and properties be dissolved and expropriated.”

Today, the Romanian Catholic Church has approximately 700,000 members in Romania--less than one-half of its 1940 population of 1.5 million.

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Damascus, 15 November 2011

On 15 November the Christmas Fast begins, according to the tradition of our Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Other Churches start it on 10 December.

In view of the tragic circumstances and dangers that beset our Arab world in general and Syria in particular, I am calling upon all our faithful in our Church, in Damascus and eparchies in Syria, to begin a voluntary fast, especially on Wednesdays and Fridays, from 15 November until the Feast of Christmas. Fasting should be accompanied by prayer, so that prayers go up in homes, churches, monasteries and convents, at the start of confraternity meetings and all parish activities.

In that way we shall be obeying the command of our Lord, who said, “This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting,” (Matthew 17: 21) and fulfilling our national and Christian duty to our Arab homelands.

We beseech our Lord to preserve our homeland of Syria, all our countries and our fellow-citizens from the dangers of riots, conspiracies and divisions. We pray too for needful reforms and appropriate changes to be implemented at all levels, for a better future for Syria, our homeland, and for all Arab countries.