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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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CWN - The Catholic-Orthodox Forum, which allows for discussion between Catholic and Orthodox prelates on life, marriage, family, and other social issues, recently held its fifth meeting since 2008.
The meeting, which took place in Paris, was devoted to “Europe in fear of the threat from fundamentalist terrorism, and the value of human person and religious freedom.” In a joint statement following the meeting, the prelates reflected on the relationship between Islam and terrorism.
“There is no question of stigmatizing the religion of Islam,” they said. “We observe, with Muslim leaders themselves, that some terrorists justify their action from the sacred texts of Islam.”
The Catholic and Orthodox prelates added:
It has been suggested that radicalisation has become Islamised, rather than the opposite. We believe that some narratives of Islamic history and experience have reinforced the spirit of these young people with a vision of hatred and rejection of the other … We call on Muslim religious authorities to ensure that there is no propagation of a systematically hostile image of the non-Muslim world.
The prelates’ statement touched on several other topics, including the current “unprecedented waves of migration.”
“We believe that welcoming foreigners is a paramount human and Christian duty,” the statement continued. “However, immigration must also take into account what is actually feasible in the host countries … The key word for immigrants is integration.”
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CWN - The Subcommittee on Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has awarded over $2.3 million to fund 75 projects.
“A new generation of Catholics in Central and Eastern Europe needs our support as they continue to face the ongoing consequences of decades of Communist rule,” said Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, the subcommittee’s chairman.
The grants are funded by a collection that is taken up in many dioceses on Ash Wednesday. The subcommittee awarded $4.7 million in grants in June 2016 and $2.5 million in January 2016.
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CWN - The Syriac Catholic archbishop of Mosul said that Iraqi Christians wish to live in harmony with others throughout the country and do not wish to be confined to a “humanitarian corridor” set aside for Christians.
According to Bishop Oscar Cantú—the chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace—Archbishop Youhanna Moshe said that “we don’t want to live in a ghetto. That is counterproductive. That makes us a target for our enemies … We need an integrated reality, rather than a ‘Gaza’ where there’s a wall and someone is guarding people going in and out.”
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CWN - In the past six years, Aid to the Church in Need has spent $45 million assisting the Middle East’s persecuted Christians, according to Crux’s John Allen.
With aid provided by the Western and Kurdish governments tending only to reach Muslims, “groups such as ACN, Catholic Relief Services, and the Knights of Columbus aren’t just taking part in the relief effort for Christians in Iraq and Syria—they are the relief effort,” writes Allen.
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risu.org.ua - On January 12, 2017, with the blessing of Patriarch Filaret of the Kyiv Patriarchate, members of the commission for dialogue with the Ecumenical Patriarchate met with representative members of the Holy Synod and the Holy Patriarchate of Constantinople at the official residence of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the Phanar (Istanbul, Turkey).
The Ukrainian side was represented by the Commission Chairman and Patriarchal Vicar, Metropolitan Epifaniy of Pereyaslav-Khmelnitskyy and Bila Tserkva, Metropolitan Dymytriy of Lviv and Sokal, and Secretary of the Holy Synod Archbishop Yevstratiy of Chernihiv and Nizhyn. The delegation was also accompanied by the First Vice-rector of the Kyiv Orthodox Theological Academy, Archpriest Olexandr Trofymlyuk. Before the meeting, the delegation prayed at St. George Patriarchal Cathedral at the Phanar unto the relics of the saints of the Three Holy Hierarchs, St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian, and St. John Chrysostom.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate representatives, negotiating with the Ukrainian delegation were General Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod, Metropolitan of Smyrna Bartholomew, and the Holy Synod member, Metropolitan Emmanuel of France. Both hierarchs are members of the commission set up by the Holy Synod in the summer 2016 to consider the autocephaly of the Church in Ukraine. Fr. Ambrosius, the Secretary of the Commission for Inter-Orthodox Relations was also in attendance.
According to the press-center of the Kyiv Patriarchate, “views on the current state of Orthodoxy in Ukraine were exchanged at great length.” On behalf of Patriarch Filaret, the UOC KP delegation communicated to the Ecumenical Patriarchate representatives the position of the Kyiv Patriarchate regarding the solutions to the problems that are faced by Ukrainian Orthodox believers due to the destructive non-canonical actions of the Moscow Patriarchate.”
It has been emphasized that the Kyiv Patriarchate, unlike the ROC, officially supported the decisions of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, held in Crete in June last year. Representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate have been provided with the copies of the UOC-KP Church calendar for 2017, which presents the translation of the Pan-Orthodox Council’s documents undertaken by the Kyiv Patriarchate.
Metropolitans Emmanuel and Bartholomew have underscored that the Ukrainian church issue is complicated, but the Ecumenical Patriarchate, as the First Throne and Mother Church will do their best to find the way of problem solving. The hierarchs have noted that all opinions and suggestions made during the meeting will be communicated to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Constantinople Patriarchate, which will take the appropriate action.
The press center of the UOC-KP states: “Noting that the Kyiv Patriarchate has sought for over 25 to restore of canonical order through the establishment of one local Orthodox Church in Ukraine, the delegation of the UOC-KP expresses hope that the Mother Church of Constantinople will do everything possible to adopt all appropriate decisions the earliest possible.”
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CWN - A Russian Orthodox cathedral that was converted to a “Museum of Atheism” under the Communist regime will be restored to use as a cathedral.
As a museum, St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg, built in 1818, has been a major tourist attraction, drawing nearly 4 million visitors last year. But over 100,000 people signed a petition asking for the building to be returned to religious use, and this week the petition was approved.
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