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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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CWN - Maronite Catholic Patriarch Beshara al Rai has warned that Lebanon is "on the brink of collapse" because of a long political stalemate that has blocked the election of a new president, the AsiaNews service reports.
On February 7, the Maronite prelate made a new appeal to the members of the deadlocked Lebanese parliament, saying that they should back away from the entrenched positions that have prevented the selection of a new leader. He pleaded with them to serve "the common good" rather than their partisan interests.
Since May 2014, when former President Michel Suleiman ended his term, rival factions in parliament have blocked the election of a new leader. Lebanon's political charter calls for the selection of a Maronite Christian, but the two leading political blocs-- one supporting Hezbollah, with ties to Iran, the other backing Saad Hariri, with ties to Saudi Arabia-- have refused to compromise.
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CWN - The heads of the Chaldean Catholic Church and the Melkite Greek Catholic Church have called upon Catholics to pray and fast for the suffering Christians of Syria and Iraq, especially on Ash Wednesday.
Stating that the crisis has reached “apocalyptic dimensions,” Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako asked Aid to the Church in Need, “Pray and fast that we may remain in our homelands, that the refugees may return to their villages and cities.”
“Our faith is put to the test day after day,” added Melkite Patriarch Gregory III Laham. “We see the suffering of the children, the pain of the parents, we are surrounded by hatred and death. We want to be able to live in peace once more in our beloved homeland … Please fast and pray with us! It is impossible that the Lord will not answer the combined prayers and sacrifices of His children.”
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CWN - Following his February 7 Angelus address, Pope Francis issued an appeal for Syria.
“I follow with deep concern the dramatic fate of civilian populations involved in heavy fighting in Syria and forced to leave everything behind to escape the horrors of war,” he said. “I hope that, with generous solidarity, they are lent the necessary help to ensure their survival and dignity, and I appeal to the international community to not save any effort to urgently bring to the negotiating table, the parties.”
“Only a political solution of the conflict will be able to guarantee a future of reconciliation and peace in that beloved and martyred country, for which I invite you to pray a lot,” the Pope continued.
Recalling that February 7 was the Day for Life in Italy, Pope Francis said, “I join the Italian bishops in wishing, on the part of various educational and social institutions, for a renewed commitment in favor of human life from conception to its natural end. Our society must be helped to heal from all attacks on life, daring an inner change, which is shown by the works of mercy.”
On the eve of the feast of St. Josephine Bakhita, Pope Francis asked for renewed efforts to end modern-day slavery. He also requested prayers for his upcoming apostolic journey to Mexico and meeting with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.
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CWN - Pope Francis will meet with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow on February 12, in Cuba.
The Vatican and the Moscow patriarchate announced plans for the historic meeting on February 5. The meeting will be held at José Marti airport outside Havana. Patriarch Kirill is visiting Cuba next week, while Pope Francis will make a stop in Havana as he flies to Mexico for a pastoral visit there.
No Roman Pontiff has ever met with a Russian Orthodox Patriarch. St. John Paul II had longed to visit Moscow, and on several occasions during his pontificate the Vatican made an effort to arrange a summit meeting. But negotiations always broke down, with Russian Orthodox officials saying that a meeting would not be appropriate until conflicts between the Vatican and the Moscow patriarchate were resolved. Efforts by Pope Benedict XVI to arrange a meeting encountered the same resistance.
The Moscow patriarchate has repeatedly complained about "proselytism" by Catholics in Russia, and about the activities of the Byzantine-rite Ukrainian Catholic Church. Complaints on the latter subject have become particularly bitter recently, with the Moscow patriarchate charging that Ukrainian Catholic clerics have incited political tensions in Ukraine. The strength of the Eastern-rite Catholic Church in Ukraine has been a source of irritation for Moscow, which views all of Ukraine as the "canonical territory" of the Orthodox Church.
Nevertheless, Pope Francis has renewed efforts to arrange a meeting with the Russian Orthodox Patriarch, who leads the largest of all the world's Christian groups outside the Catholic Church. In 2014, the Pope sent a personal message to Patriarch Kirill, saying that he was "willing to meet at any place."
In Moscow, a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church said that the Patriarch and the Pope "had to meet" because of the urgent need for joint action to address the persecution of Christians in the Middle East. Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, who heads the ecumenical department of the Orthodox patriarchate, said that the genocidal campaign against Christians by Islamic extremists prompted both Rome and Moscow to press forward with plans for a meeting.
Metropolitan Hilarion also observed that a meeting in Cuba, on "neutral territory," furnished an attractive possibility. He pointed out that Cuba, unlike Europe, has no history of conflicts between separate Christian bodies.
Although there had been virtually no public discussion of a potential summit, rumors of a possible meeting in Cuba arose in January, when Vatican journalist Sandro Magister of L'Espresso predicted the announcement. At first, Russian Orthodox officials downplayed the report, observing that although the Pope and the Patriarch would both be in the Western hemisphere at the same time, they would be visiting different countries.
In announcing the meeting, the Vatican released a statement in several languages-- including Russian, in an indication that Rome and Moscow had been carefully coordinating plans.
The announcement indicated that the Pope and the Patriarch will sign a joint declaration after their conversation.
"The Holy See and the Moscow Patriarchate hope that it will also be a sign of hope for all people of good will," the announcement said. "They invite all Christians to pray fervently for God to bless this meeting, that it may bear good fruits."
References:
- Francis to meet Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in Cuba (VIS)
- Pope Francis to hold historic meeting with Russian patriarch in Cuba (CNS)
- Francis and Kirill to hold historic first meeting in Cuba (La Stampa)
- Russian Orthodox Church denies plan for meeting of Pope, Patriarch (CWN, 1/27)
- Pope seeks meeting with Patriarch of Moscow (CWN, 6/4/14)
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CWN - A leading Eastern Orthodox theologian has offered an overview of the upcoming Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church.
Writing in First Things, Archdeacon John Chryssavgis said that the council, from the Orthodox point of view, is not properly described as an ecumenical council because “whole church that must convene—East and West—in order for a council to be considered ecumenical.”
At the same time, this “extraordinary and exceptional event” is “entirely without precedent in the history of Christianity,” wrote Chryssavgis, who serves as Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s theological advisor for environmental issues and was cited by Pope Francis in his ecological encyclical Laudato Si’.
“Some are afraid of [the council’s] consequences for the purity of Orthodox doctrine; it may shed light on practices in isolated communities, which have long resisted and reacted against the modern ways of the West,” Chryssavgis continued. “But others see this as a unique moment in the life and witness of an ancient church; it is an opportunity for Orthodox theology to speak a prophetic voice of hope and light in a time of anxiety and uncertainty.”
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8 February 2016
From Gregorios, Servant of Jesus Christ
By the mercy of Almighty God
Patriarch of Antioch and All the East,
Of Alexandria and of Jerusalem
To my brother bishops, members of the Holy Synod
And my sons and daughters in Christ Jesus, clergy and people
Called to be saints, with all those who call upon the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ,
“Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
(1 Corinthians 1: 3)
Divine and Human Mercy
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
(Matthew 5: 7)
We are contemplating an early fast for this year. And I must, as is customary for me, address a personal letter to you to accompany this annual spiritual journey, which we call the Great Lent Fast.
I want this message to echo the sentiments expressed by his Holiness Pope Francis recently in the Bull of Indiction entitled The Face of Mercy, assigned to the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, and also in his Message issued on 1 January, 2016 to celebrate the XLIX World Day of Peace.