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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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CWN - In an interview with a Polish journalist, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church compared Pope St. John Paul II to a Moses whose words helped liberate the Church in Ukraine.
“He spoke on behalf of the silent Church, as Catholics were called in the Soviet Union,” said Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk. “He was like Moses, who spoke to Pharaoh: ‘Let my people go.’”
“I remember the people then said [that] if the Pope stepped with his foot onto Ukrainian soil, then Communism will never come back here,” the prelate added. “We can say that His visit to Ukraine secured religious freedom in our country. His call to ‘Fear not!’ remains more relevant and strong in Ukraine, especially today.”
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CWN - Pope Francis paid tribute to the late Armenian Cathoilc Patriarch Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, in a message that was read at the prelate’s funeral on July 1.
Cardinal Leonard Sandri, the prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, represented the Holy Father at the funeral, held in Beirut, and read the papal message. In it the Pontiff spoke of the Armenian Patriarch as “deeply rooted on the Rock that is Christ,” and said that he “spared nothing” in his efforts to preach the Gospel.
Patriarch Nerses also “dedicated himself to ensuring that the just commemoration of the sufferings of the Armenian people throughout their history become an action of God's grace,” the Pope noted.
Pope Francis recalled the participation of Patriarch Nerses in Vatican ceremonies, in April ceremonies at which St. Gregory of Narek, an 10th-century Armenian monk, was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church.
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“He has gone from celebrating the Divine Liturgy here below
to celebrating the heavenly Liturgy,” says Gregorios III
“We were very sad and upset to learn of the departure from this life of H. B. Nerses Bedros XIX of blessed memory, Armenian Catholic Catholicos Patriarch of Cilicia. He has gone from celebrating the Divine Liturgy here below to celebrating the heavenly Liturgy.
“We have lost a brother, friend and dearly loved colleague. We shared a deep ecclesial friendship and saw eye to eye on ecclesial, liturgical and pastoral matters, bouncing ideas off one another and sharing plans and projects.
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CWN - Metropolitan Hilarion, the chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, met on June 26 with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State.
The two “agreed on the need for closer cooperation between the two Churches in seeking a peaceful settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine and giving aid to those who need it,” according to the Moscow Patriarchate.
Metropolitan Hilarion praised improving Orthodox-Catholic relations in Belarus, and the two also discussed the situation of Christians in the Middle East.
On June 26, Metropolitan Hilarion also met with Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family. “They discussed a wide range of issues concerning the common responsibility of the Orthodox and the Catholics in defending the traditional family,” according to the patriarchate.
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CWN - Pope Francis told a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople that the restoration of “full, visible communion” between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox churches “represents one of my main concerns, for which I do not cease to pray to God.”
The Ecumenical Patriarch customarily sends a delegation to Rome for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, and the Pontiff in turn sends a delegation to Istanbul for the Feast of St. Andrew. This year, the Orthodox delegation included Metropolitan John Zizioulas of Pergamon, Metropolitan Maximos Vgenopoulos of Selyvria, and Father Heikki Huttunen of the Finnish Orthodox Church.
“It is my desire that we may be able to face, in truth but also with a fraternal spirit, the difficulties which still exist,” Pope Francis said on June 27. “In this way, I wish also to renew my support for the important work of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.”
“The problems which we may encounter in the course of our theological dialogue must not lead us to discouragement or resignation,” he added. “The careful examination of how in the Church the principle of synodality and the service of the one who presides are articulated, will make a significant contribution to the progress of relations between our Churches.”
The Pope assured the Orthodox delegation of his prayers for the upcoming Pan-Orthodox Synod and asked for prayers for the upcoming Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church on the family.
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CWN - In a message to Pope Francis issued in commemoration of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople welcomed Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment.
“The celebration of the thronal feast of our Churches is a reminder, Your Holiness, of the very significant fact that, despite the regrettable interruption of full communion among us, both of our churches remain united in honoring the memory of our common saints, who comprise the stable foundation on which we are called to build full union inasmuch as the Church of Christ is essentially a communion of Saints,” the Ecumenical Patriarch wrote in his June 19 message, which the Holy See Press Office released on June 27.
“However, as Your Holiness has emphasized, our unity must be sought and edified not only in our common past, but also in the contemporary reality lived in the world, which invites us jointly to transmit to modern man the message of the Gospel about joy, hope and love,” he continued, stating that the encyclical Laudato Si’ “filled us with immense satisfaction, given that our most holy Church of Constantinople was the first in the Christian world to proclaim publicly the urgent need to protect the natural environment, which is deplorably threatened by human greed.”
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