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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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BAGHDAD, Iraq, APRIL 3, 2007 (Zenit.org).- There are plans for a full liturgical schedule this Easter, but death and violence make its fulfillment uncertain, says the auxiliary bishop of the Chaldean Archdiocese of Babylon.
"Here death is lurking around every corner," Bishop Shlemon Warduni told the Italian bishops' SIR news agency.
He spoke of his sadness "over the exodus of Christians from the country," and acknowledged bitterness because of "living in a situation to which there seems to be no end."
"Victims are the sick, the elderly, children and many orphans, due to the indescribable violence caused by car bombs, suicidal terrorists and criminals," the 63-year-old prelate explained last Friday.
But, "Easter will strengthen our certainty of a future of justice, tolerance and reconciliation," Bishop Warduni affirmed.
The Chaldean patriarchate has moved forward the celebration of the Easter Vigil to the early hours of Holy Saturday evening.
"It is too dangerous to go out at night," the prelate explained. Yet, "we hope that faith will give our Christians the courage to overcome difficulties and take part in the rites.
"Holy Week is a time of fasting. Our fasting is the suffering in which we live. We offer it up, not only for Iraq, but for the whole world."
Estimates indicate that since 2003, at least half of Iraq's 1.2 million Christians have fled the country.
Code: ZE07040311
Date: 2007-04-03
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ALDERSHOT, England, APRIL 3, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The Catholic bishop of the British armed forces is appealing to Iran's leader for the release of 15 British sailors and marines, seized on March 23.
Bishop Tom Burns sent an appeal today to Iran's chief of state, Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-Khamenei, requesting their release.
"All of us appreciate the Iranian government's resolve that they should be well treated and properly looked after," the prelate said. "This attitude is therefore the correct response that would be expected of any internationally reputable nation.
"This approach is also in accordance with both the Islamic and the Christian faith. For there is the chance to express a unity of purpose on both sides, whereby everyone seeks justice and forgiveness where that is appropriate."
Bishop Burns said that the Iranian leader is in a position to "gain the world's respect for its Islamic laws and values."
"As one religious leader to another," he appealed, "I therefore ask him to show generosity by allowing one navy to return the sailors and marines of another to their mother-ship."
Bishop Burns continued: "Britain will then be free to state that every care will be taken to avoid a similar situation in the future. Iran must know that such assurances will be readily given.
"This way ahead could allow both nations to break the impasse that currently exists between them."
Code: ZE07040312
Date: 2007-04-03
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+ BARTHOLOMEW
BY THE MERCY OF GOD
ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE,
NEW ROME AND ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH
TO THE FULLNESS OF THE CHURCH GRACE, JOY, PEACE AND MERCY FROM HIM WHO WAS RISEN IN GLORY, CHRIST OUR SAVIOUR
Beloved Concelebrants and pious and God-loving children of the Church,
CHRIST HAS RISEN!
Once again we hear this joyful Christian greeting within our Christian Communities. But many of these prosperous Communities disregard the question and very real issue of death, and live as though death did not exist and the resurrection was without meaning. However, “Fearful is the mystery of death”, as the hymnographer says and our daily reality reiterates. The fear of death, which is most acute in those who confront problems of health or old age, even when it is alleviated in a variety of ways, consumes our peace of mind, fills the soul with irrational anxiety and often leads to suicide, for the relentless insecurity becomes unbearable.
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SYROS, Greece, APRIL 2, 2007 (Zenit.org).- It is a motive of great joy for many Christians that the Catholic and Orthodox Churches will celebrate Easter on the same day this year, says Bishop Franghiskos Papamanolis.
The Catholic Church, following the Gregorian calendar, normally celebrates Easter earlier than the Orthodox Church, which follows the Julian calendar. This year the two coincide with the celebration of Easter on April 8.
Bishop Papamanolis, president of the Greek Catholic episcopal conference, told ZENIT that the Catholic community in the country normally celebrates Easter on the same day as the Orthodox Church.
He said: "To celebrate Easter on different days creates social problems, and for us, it also creates pastoral problems.
"For us it is a suffering to celebrate Easter on a different day than Rome."
"The suffering is even greater," the bishop added, "when we can't celebrate Easter together in Greece, as there are many mixed families."
Bishop Papamanolis of Syros and Milos said that the ideal "would be to arrive to an agreement so that all Christians could celebrate Easter together."
Next year, he added, "the Catholic universal Church will celebrate Easter on March 23, while the Orthodox Church -- along with us Catholic Greeks -- will do so on April 27."
The Council of Nicaea established that the day of Easter should fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. The difference of dates for the Catholic and Orthodox Churches is due to fact that they follow different calendars.
The next time Easter coincides for the two Churches will be April 4, 2010.
Code: ZE07040220
Date: 2007-04-02
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The aim of the celebration, said the Pope in his homily, is to give thanks to God for John Paul II, "for 27 years ... father and sure guide in the faith, zealous pastor and courageous prophet of hope, tireless witness and passionate servant of God's love."
Having addressed a special greeting to Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, who for more than 40 years was the late pontiff's private secretary, the Holy Father turned to comment on the day's Gospel reading recounting the supper at Bethany during which Mary, sister of Lazarus, taking "a pound of costly perfume, made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet and wiped them with her hair."
The Pope said: "Mary of Bethany's gesture has rich spiritual echoes and significance. It evokes the shining testimony that John Paul II gave of an unreserved and selfless love for Christ. The 'fragrance' of his love filled the house, in other words the Church. ... Are not the esteem, respect and affection that believers and non-believers expressed when he died an eloquent testimony?"
"The intense and fruitful pastoral ministry, and even more so the Calvary of agony and the serene death of our beloved Pope, brought the men and women of our time to understand that Jesus Christ truly was his 'all.'
"We know," the Holy Father added, "that the fruitfulness of his testimony depended upon the Cross. In the life of Karol Wojtyla the word 'cross' was not just a word. Ever since his infancy and youth, he had experienced pain and death." And, "particularly with the slow but implacable progress of his illness which little by little deprived him of everything, his existence became a complete offering to Christ."
"His pontificate was marked by his 'prodigality,' by his generous and unreserved giving of self. What moved him if not his mystical love for Christ? ... 'Magister adest et vocat te' - the Master is here and He calls you. On April 2, 2005, the Master returned ... to call him and take him home, to the house of the Father. And he, again, responded readily with his intrepid heart and whispered: 'Let me go to the Lord'."
"For a long time he had been preparing for this final meeting with Jesus, as evinced by the various drafts of his will. ... He died praying. He truly fell asleep in the Lord. ... The fragrance of the faith, the hope and the charity of the Pope filled his house, it filled St. Peter's Square, it filled the Church and spread over the whole world."
"Servant of God," Benedict XVI exclaimed, "this is what he was and this is what we call him now in the Church, while the process of his beatification continues apace. ... Servant of God, a particularly appropriate title for him. The Lord called him to His service on the path of the priesthood and little by little opened ever vaster horizons before him: from his diocese to the Universal Church. This universal dimension reached its greatest extent at the moment of his death, an event that the entire world experienced with a level of participation never before seen in history."
"May the 'Totus tuus' of the beloved Pontiff encourage us along the path of giving ourselves to Christ by the intercession of Mary," the Holy Father concluded. "To her maternal hands we entrust this our father, brother and friend that in God he may find peaceful repose and happiness."
HML/JOHN PAUL II/... VIS 070403 (630)
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Patriarch and Cardinal Say It Prepared for Easter
ROME, APRIL 2, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The performance of Russian Orthodox Bishop Hilarion Alfeev's "The Passion According to St. Matthew" united East and West for a "unity concert " which ended with a long, standing ovation.
Composed by Bishop Alfeev of Vienna and Austria, representative of the Russian Orthodox Church of Moscow to the European Community, "The Passion According to St. Matthew" was performed last Thursday in an auditorium beside the Vatican.
At the beginning of the concert, Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Pontifical Councils for Interreligious Dialogue and for Culture and a trustee of the concert, read a message from Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia.
"For all of us it is good preparation for the great and salvific days of Passion Week, which will help us comprehend the great atoning work accomplished by Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," the patriarch wrote.
"Only if we are conscious of this atoning feat are we deemed worthy of a special joy to meet the risen Christ on the bright day of Christ's Passover," he continued.
Both lungs
Cardinal Poupard observed: "The Passion According to St. Matthew" is not just "a merely cultural event, but also, and I would say, above all, a moment of reflection and preparation for the great feast of Easter." This year, Orthodox and Catholics will celebrate Easter on the same day.
The concert, the cardinal added, offers the opportunity "of participating in first person in this journey of mutual knowledge, esteem and communion desired by both Churches, which continues ever more intensely and fruitfully" so that the Church can breathe "with both lungs."
This is in order to take advantage of the richness of the "spiritual and cultural patrimony of East and West, welcomed and lived in its substantial unity and its creative cultural complementarity," Cardinal Poupard added.
Other concert trustees included Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity; Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, retired president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; Nikolay Sadchikov, Russian ambassador to the Holy See; and composer Arvo Part.
"The Passion" was conducted by Vladimir Fedoseev and interpreted by the Petr Chajkovskij Grand Symphonic Orchestra, and by the Trethakovskij Choir. Taking into account this text, it should still be noted that it is possible to improve what is described by introducing game techniques, a striking example of which is the experience of Desura. But in this case, all this will become more reminiscent of the plot of popular the best online games and not what is described initially here.
The concert was presented for the first time in Moscow two days earlier, in the presence of Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II.
EWTN covered the performance, which was broadcast by the Vatican Television Center.
Code: ZE07040201
Date: 2007-04-02