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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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VATICAN CITY, APRIL 30, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI spoke with a leader of Andorra about further consolidating relations between the Holy See and that tiny principality situated between France and Spain.
The Pope met with Albert Pintat Santolaria, president of the executive council of Andorra, today.
"The principal topic of the cordial discussions was the current relations between the Catholic Church and the Principality of Andorra, and the possibility of consolidating them further," the Vatican press office reported. "Opinions were also exchanged on the problems of young people and of education, and on questions concerning the situation in Europe."
After his audience with the Pope, the president met with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
Some 90% of Andorra's 71,000 inhabitants are Catholic. In 1993, Andorra was formed as a parliamentary democracy that retains as its chiefs of state a co-principality. The two princes are the president of France and bishop of Urgel, Spain, who are represented locally by co-princes' representatives.
Code: ZE07043007
Date: 2007-04-30
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Urges Them to Foster Unity in Their Countries
VATICAN CITY, APRIL 30, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI participated in the extraordinary synod of the Syro-Catholic bishops, asking them to be an example of unity in the situations of violence and division in which they live.
This Syro-Catholic Church, united with Rome since 1662, is principally present in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Turkey, though members are found all over the world, particularly in the United States.
After his address at the synod on Saturday, the Pope lunched with the participants, including Patriarch Ignace Pierre VIII Abdel-Ahad of Antioch. On hand were also 13 bishops who represent the 150,000 Syro-Catholic faithful around the world.
The synod, which took place in the Vatican last Thursday to Saturday, was presided over by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, in the Holy Father's name.
In his remarks to the synod, the Holy Father said he wanted to gather them in Rome to "strengthen even more the bonds that have existed for centuries that unite your Church to the Apostolic See and, at the same time, to show you the esteem and solicitude that the Bishop of Rome has for each one of you, pastors of a part of God's people that is not numerous but is very ancient and meaningful."
Benedict XVI added: "In today's world, there are many challenges that Christian communities must face in every part of the world, while many dangers and traps risk clouding the values of the Gospel.
"In regard to your Church, the violence and conflicts that afflict a part of your flock are additional difficulties that endanger peaceful coexistence and peoples' lives."
Code: ZE07043003
Date: 2007-04-30
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2007-04-28 - Interfax - The Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) has held its final meeting before the Act of Canonical Communion will be in Moscow on May 17. What were the meeting’s results? Has the Church Outside of Russia changed her attitude to the Moscow Patriarchate’s involvement in the WCC? With what feelings the church delegation from outside of Russia prepares its Moscow visit? The secretary of the ROCOR commission for negotiations with the Moscow Patriarchate Archpriest Alexander Lebedev answers these and other questions in his interview to Interfax-Religion.
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Kiev, April 23, Interfax - Cardinal Lubomir Husar, leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics, has announced his intention to establish new Uniate dioceses in Eastern Ukraine.
‘We are discovering more people than we thought. Even in Kiev there are more Greek Catholics than we hoped to find. As people have become estranged from traditions, they have to be found and awakened’, Cardinal Husar said in a interview to the Ukrainian Focus magazine, commenting on the intention of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church to open new dioceses.
It is through the efforts of ‘young, energetic and more emotional’ priests that the Greek-Catholic clergy in Ukraine ‘are stimulating’ people to accept the Uniate preaching, he said.
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Warsaw, Apr. 30, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Government leaders from Poland and Ukrine joined for an ecumenical service Warsaw on April 28.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski and Ukraine's Viktor Yushchenko participated together in the Liturgy of the Word, a service held in the chapel of the Polish presidential palace. Joining the two political leaders were Catholic and Orthodox Church leaders, including the Polish Catholic primate, Cardinal Jozef Glemp; Ukrainian Catholic Cardinal Lubomyr Huzar of Kiev; Ukrainian Catholic Archbishop Jan Martyniak of Przemysl-Warsaw, Poland; Ukrainian Catholic Bishop Wlodzimierz Juszczak of Breslau-Danzig, Poland; and Orthodox Archbishop Abel of Lublin-Chelm, Poland.
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The Syrian synod had met in Rome from April 26 to 28, with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone presiding as the Pope's representative. The participants included Patriarch Ignace Pierre VII Abdel-Ahad of Antioch and 13 Syrian Catholic bishops.
Receiving the Syrian prelates in a private audience on Saturday, the Holy Father noted that their visit to the Vatican helped to illustrate the ties that bind the Bishop of Rome to a "part of the People of God that is not large, but ancient and important." Citing the words of his predecessor John Paul II, the Pontiff said the Eastern Catholic churches play an important role today in the search for "unity and reconciliation" between people of different faiths and different Christian denominations. That task is particularly important, the Pope said, in light of the tensions that afflict the Syrian Catholic community today.
The Syrian Catholic Church, which has historical ties with the Syrian Orthodox Church, is an ancient Church of the Antiochene rite, with about 125,000 faithful today, living mostly in the Middle East. The former Syrian Catholic patriarch, Cardinal Ignace Moussa Daoud, is now the prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Eastern Churches.
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