News
Byzcath.org News provides news focusing on the Christian East from varous sources and offers links to other sites dedicated to providing the news about the Church.
Churches and organizations that provide news about the Eastern Churches are invited to submit their news stories to us for publication here (use the contact page for submission)..
Materials from the Vatican Information Service, Zenit, CWNews.com and other sources are published here with permission of their owners but may not be republished further without the permission of their original publishers. Please visit these sites to obtain additional general news about the Church. In addition to these sources EWTN News also provides a good general news summary.
Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
- Details
VATICAN CITY, JAN 19, 2007 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican, Benedict XVI received an ecumenical delegation from Finland for the occasion of the Feast of St. Henry, patron saint of that country, which is celebrated today.
Addressing the delegates in English, the Pope noted how "in recent times relations between Christians in Finland have developed in a way that offers much hope for the future of ecumenism. Readily they pray and work together, bearing common public witness to the Word of God.
"It is precisely this convincing testimony to the guiding and saving truths of the Gospel that all men and women seek or need to hear," he added. "On the part of Christians this demands courage."
"In the Joint Declaration on Justification, Lutherans and Catholics have covered a considerable distance theologically. Further work remains and so it is encouraging that the Nordic Lutheran-Catholic dialogue in Finland and Sweden is examining the topic of 'Justification in the Life of the Church'."
The Holy Father concluded by expressing the hope "that these conversations will effectively contribute to the quest for full and visible unity of the Church, while at the same time offering an ever clearer response to the fundamental questions affecting life and society. https://krootez.com/buy-instagram-likes/"
www.vatican.va
- Details
VATICAN CITY, JAN 19, 2007 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican, Benedict XVI received the Letters of Credence of Muammer Dogan Akdur, the new Turkish ambassador to the Holy See. In his French-language address to the diplomat, the Holy Father reiterated his gratitude to the authorities and the people of Turkey for the welcome they showed him during his apostolic visit to the country in December last year.
Pointing out that his trip had led him in the footsteps of his predecessors Paul VI and John Paul II, Benedict XVI noted that it had also given him the opportunity "to witness the good relations" between Turkey and the Holy See. And he recalled how, in his meetings with political leaders in Turkey, he had sought to reaffirm "the presence of the Catholic Church in Turkish society, thanks to the important heritage of the first Christian communities of Asia Minor" and the "existence of today's Christian communities, clearly minorities but dedicated to the country and to the common good of all society, and desirous of making their contribution to the construction of the nation."
- Details
- Details
"Unity," said the Pope, "is a gift from God and the fruit of the action of His Spirit. For this reason it is important to pray. The closer we draw to Christ, converting ourselves to His love, the closer we also draw to one another."
- Details
Handbook Offers Guidelines for the "Soul" of Fostering Christian Unity
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org) - At the heart of the whole ecumenical movement is spiritual ecumenism, says the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
In A Handbook of Spiritual Ecumenism, Cardinal Walter Kasper presents guidelines grounded in documents from the Second Vatican Council, Pope John Paul II's "Ut Unum Sint" and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Spiritual ecumenism is the "soul of the whole ecumenical movement," Cardinal Kasper explains in the handbook, published recently by New City Press.
He encourages readers to contemplate Jesus who, during the Last Supper, prayed "that they may all be one."
Desire and prayer
The introduction of the volume explains: "The quest for Christian unity is, above all, a desire that must be kept alive and a prayer that must be nourished."
The prelate wrote the book, called for by his council's 2003 plenary assembly, with some of his collaborators. He especially acknowledges the help of Monsignors Johan Bonny and Donald Bolen.
The cardinal points out that the text results from personal experiences and cooperation with a group already practicing spiritual ecumenism.
Cardinal Kasper says he hopes "it will contribute to unite us more with our brothers and sisters, in a common prayer around Christ, our only Lord."
ZE07011620
- Details
ANKAWA, Iraq, JAN. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org) - Classes have resumed at Iraq's only faculty of Christian theology as well as at a seminary that moved out of Baghdad for security reasons.
Chaldean Bishop Rabban al-Qas told AsiaNews that the doors of Babel College and St. Peter's Major Seminary reopened on Thursday, after being closed for months.
Abductions, assaults and threats to the Christian community in the capital convinced local Church leaders first to shut down both the college and seminary, and then to move them.
The neighborhood of Dora, where the headquarters of both institutions were first located, has become one of the most dangerous areas of Baghdad.
The reopening of the faculty of theology was marked by a Mass celebrated by Monsignor Jacques Isaac, rector of Babel College, in the Chaldean Church of Mar Eliya.
Bishop Andraos Abouna, vicar patriarch representing Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly, and Sarkis Aghajan, a Christian and finance minister in Kurdistan's regional government, were also present.
About 25 seminarians are registered in Babel College, but there are many other students studying theology and philosophy.
ZE07011603