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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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CWNews.com - Russian President Dmitri Medvedev is expected to focus discussion on international affairs during his February 17 meeting with Pope Benedict XVI. But the visit—the first between a Pontiff and a Russian leader since the establishment of full diplomatic relations in December 2009—is also likely to include some discussion of prospects for ecumenical relations between the Vatican and the Moscow Patriarchate. In Moscow, in Orthodox official says that the possibility of a face-to-face meeting between the Pope and Patriarch Kirill is “more realistic than it was a few years ago.” The Russian official cited an increase in the number and warmth of ecumenical contacts.
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CWNews.com - Cardinal Antonios Naguib, patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church, has issued a statement welcoming the fall of the regime of Hosni Mubarak.
“The Egyptian Catholic Church joins all Egypt's loyal citizens to thank God Almighty for the wonderful success he granted to the courageous youth of the January 25 movement,” he said. “Thanks are due to the crowds of patriotic youth who motivated the spark from which this movement started off and became an erupting volcano that cannot be extinguished and that gathered all the forces that refuse the wrong situation controlling the country for so long, by looking forward to a better and brighter future for the Egyptian civilization, and gathering around one cause which is the love of Egypt and the dignity of its citizens.”
“This experience has produced a reality that was absent for so long, which is the unity of the citizens, the youth and the old, Christians and Muslims, without any distinction or discrimination, in purpose and action for the good of Egypt, and for the security and safety in the country,” he added. “We are certain that these feelings that reigned in the hearts will last for the near and distant future.”
“We want Egypt to have its position among the modern countries,” he continued. “A civil country, a democratic one based on laws, justice and equality, that respects one’s freedom and dignity based only on the citizenship, allows participation for all categories without reducing persons and categories to one member, and achieves what the analysts, politicians and intellectuals have called for in order to prevent divisions that caused distortion in all the fields. Here they are the loyal Egyptians ready for making all efforts for the good of the dear nation. And the Catholic Church with all its institutions will work with them in reconstructing and proceeding along this path for a better future.”
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CWNews.com - A Greek Orthodox parish in New York has brought suit against the Port Authority, charging that it has been blocked from rebuilding a church that was destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attack.
St. Nicholas parish had sought permission to rebuild the church near Ground Zero, and charged that the Port Authority agreed to that plan, but later reneged on the agreement. "This case arises out of the arrogance, bad faith, and fraudulent conduct of the Port Authority, as agent for all of the agencies, in preventing St. Nicholas from rebuilding its church at Ground Zero after it was crushed by a falling tower," the parish charged. Port Authority officials say that the parish had continually raised its demands for public financing, until finally the agency was forced to back out of the agreement.
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CWNews.com - Confirming reports that began circulating yesterday, the Vatican has announced the resignation of Cardinal Lubomyr Husar of Kyiv (Kiev), the Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.
The 77-year-old Ukrainian prelate had asked Pope Benedict XVI to accept his resignation because of his declining health-- in particular, his failing eyesight.
Archbishop Igor Vozniack of Lviv will step in as the administrator of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. He will be responsible for convening a synod of the Ukrainian Catholic bishops to elect Cardinal Husar's successor as Major Archbishop.
The Ukrainian Catholic Church, with at least 7 million faithful worldwide, is by far the largest of the Byzantine churches in communion with the Holy See. Ukrainian Catholics have urged the Holy See to recognize a Byzantine Catholic patriarchate in Ukraine: a proposal that Cardinal Husar supported. However, Cardinal Husar declined suggestions that he should unilaterally declare a Catholic patriarchate of Kyiv, saying that he would not "force the issue" against the wishes of the Vatican.
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Lviv - Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, the Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, has resigned at the age of 77.
Cardinal Husar asked Pope Benedict XVI to accept his resignation because of his declining health, according to informed sources within the Ukrainian Catholic Church. The Pope has reportedly accepted his request, although no official announcement has yet been released.
The resignation of the Ukrainian prelate, who has led the Eastern-rite Church since 2001, would trigger a meeting of the Ukrainian Synod of Bishops to elect a new Major Archbishop.
With well over 7 million faithful—including large numbers in the US and Canada as well as Ukraine-- the Ukrainian Catholic Church is by far the largest of the Byzantine churches in communion with the Holy See. Brutally persecuted during the Stalin era, the Ukrainian Catholic Church emerged with new vigor in Ukraine after the fall of the Communist regime.
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‘We should not pretend we are close to solving this problem’
Excerpt of story in the National Catholic Register by John Burger
There’s been encouraging — sometimes tantalizing — news in recent years about the growing potential for Catholic-Orthodox unification. Pope Benedict XVI is said to be viewed more favorably by the Orthodox than his predecessor. The Catholic Archbishop of Moscow exclaimed in 2009 that unity with the Orthodox could be achieved “within months.” And the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation issued a document last October that envisions practical steps each Church can begin taking to begin the process of reunification.
But Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev is a lot more cautious about any predictions of imminent unity between East and West. Archbishop Hilarion heads the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department of External Church Relations, a position that was held by now-Patriarch Kirill before Patriarch Alexei died in 2008.
At 44, Hilarion has experienced a meteoric rise in the hierarchy of the Orthodox Church. A brilliant theologian and author, he was elected bishop at age 35, has served as bishop of Vienna and head of the Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European Institutions in Brussels. He is deeply involved in ecumenical dialogues with the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.
Link to full National Catholic Register article: "Archbishop Hilarion on Chrisitan Unity".