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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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CWNews.com - The explosion of unrest in Egypt comes just a few weeks after an outbreak of violence against the country's Coptic Orthodox. Religion reporter Terry Mattingly asks a question that few media reports have raised: In a time of turmoil and violence, what is happening to the country's Christian religious minority?
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VATICAN CITY, 28 JAN 2011 (VIS) - Today in the Vatican, the Holy Father received thirty members of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches.
The commission was founded in 2003 as the result of an initiative by the ecclesial authorities of the family of Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
The first phase of dialogue, between 2003 and 2009, "resulted in the common text entitled 'Nature, Constitution and Mission of the Church'", said the Holy Father. "The document outlined aspects of fundamental ecclesiological principles that we share and identified issues requiring deeper reflection in successive phases of the dialogue. We can only be grateful that after almost fifteen hundred years of separation we still find agreement about the sacramental nature of the Church, about apostolic succession in priestly service and about the impelling need to bear witness to the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the world.
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CWNews.com - Pope Benedict XVI met on January 28 with members of a joint commission for dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox churches. The Pontiff expressed appreciation for their work and confidence for the future of the ecumenical dialogue.
The Oriental Orthodox churches are those Christian bodies that broke away with Rome in the wake of the Council of Chalcedon in 451, over disagreements on the christological doctrines affirmed by that council. The Oriental Orthodox churches include the Armenian Apostolic, Syrian, and Coptic Orthodox—but not the larger Russian, Greek, and other Orthodox churches of the Byzantine tradition.
Since the commission was established in 2003, the Holy Father observed, the group has reached a basis for agreement on the nature of the Church. The Pope observed: “We can only be grateful that after almost 1,500 years of separation we still find agreement about the sacramental nature of the Church, about apostolic succession in priestly service and about the impelling need to bear witness to the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the world.” The commission has now moved on to discussions on the communion among Christian churches prior to the Council of Chalcedon, and the role of monasticism in early Christianity.
In addressing the Orthodox members of the panel, Pope Benedict noted that many “come from regions where Christian individuals and communities face trials and difficulties that are a cause of deep concern for us all. “ He emphasized that all Christians have a moral obligation to work for justice and to support each other in such times of need.
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VATICAN CITY, 26 JAN 2011 (VIS) - Yesterday evening in the Roman basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls, the Pope presided at the celebration of Vespers to mark the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
In his homily the Holy Father recalled how this year "the theme suggested for our meditations came from the Christian communities of Jerusalem. ... The Christians of the Holy City invite us to renew and strengthen our commitment to rebuild full unity by meditating on the model of life followed by the first disciples of Christ gathered in Jerusalem. 'They devoted themselves', we read in the Acts of the Apostles, 'to the Apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers'".
"The Apostles' teaching, fraternal communion, breaking bread and prayer were the tangible elements of the life of the first Christian community in Jerusalem, united by the action of the Holy Spirit. At the same time, these are the essential traits of all Christian communities in all times and places. We could, in other words, say that they represent the fundamental aspects of the unity of the visible Body of the Church".
Benedict XVI highlighted how "over the course of the last few decades, the ecumenical movement, 'fostered by the grace of the Holy Spirit', has made important progress. ... Nonetheless, we are well aware that we are still far from the unity for which Christ prayed", he said. "The unity to which Christ, through His Spirit, calls the Church, cannot be realised only at the level of organisational structures but is forged at a more profound level, in 'confessing the one faith, celebrating divine worship in common, and keeping the fraternal harmony of the family of God'.
"Efforts to re-establish unity among divided Christians cannot", the Pope added, "be reduced only to recognising our reciprocal differences and to achieving peaceful coexistence. What we long for is that unity for which Christ Himself prayed, and which by its nature becomes manifest in the communion of faith, of the Sacraments and of the ministry. The journey to this unity must be perceived as a moral imperative, a response to a specific call from the Lord. For this reason it is important to overcome the temptation to despondency and pessimism, which is a lack of faith in the power of the Holy Spirit".
The Holy Father continued: "We must passionately continue the journey towards this goal, through serious and rigorous dialogue to develop our shared theological, liturgical and spiritual heritage; through reciprocal knowledge; through the ecumenical formation of new generations and, above all, through conversion of heart and prayer".
Referring then to today's Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, he recalled how "in his long missionary journeys Paul, as he roamed through various cities and regions, never forgot his bond of communion with the Church of Jerusalem. Collections to support the Christians of that community ... occupied an important place in Paul's concerns. He considered it not only as a work of charity but as a sign and guarantee of unity and communion between the Churches he founded and that original community in the Holy City, a sign of the unity of the one Church of Christ".
Finally, Benedict XVI addressed a special greeting to "our brothers and sisters from other Churches and ecclesial communities", including "members of the Joint International Commission for Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Ancient Churches of the East, who are meeting in Rome during these days. We entrust the success of your meeting to the Lord, that it may be another step forward towards our longed-for unity". He also addressed a special greeting to representatives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany, "who have come to Rome, with the bishop of the Church of Bavaria".
HML/ VIS 20110126 (640)
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CWNews.com - Bishop John Barres of Allentown (Pennsylvania) has formed a historical commission to jumpstart the stalled beatification cause of Father Walter Ciszek (1904-84), the American Jesuit who spent decades in Russian prison camps and later wrote With God in Russia and He Leadeth Me
“When Bishop Barres went to Rome for one of his early visits, he had met with several people at the Jesuit Generalate and they were saying that the cause had met with a bit of a snag,” said Father J. Michael Beers, who first became involved in the cause in the early 1990s. “Most of the materials that we had put together on Father Ciszek came from Father Ciszek, from his books and writings. They really felt that they needed something more in the way of getting more testimony from outsiders who knew him.”
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CWNews.com - Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has proposed several measures to reduce the nation’s high abortion rate, including ending state health insurance coverage of most abortions and instituting a two-week waiting period between informed consent and an abortion.
Though Russia has less than half the population of the United States, it has over twice the number of abortions.
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