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POPE-BARTHOLOMEW (UPDATED) Jun-29-2004 (1,150 words) With photos. xxxi
Pope, Orthodox patriarch pray together, pledge new push for dialogue
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Praying together at a liturgy in St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul II and Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople pledged new efforts to move ecumenical dialogue past a series of lingering obstacles.
At a Mass marking the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul in St. Peter's Square June 29, the two leaders professed the faith together and shared a sermon before some 15,000 people.
The pope declared that "we are destined not for separation but for communion," and he called for intensification of ecumenical activity among all Christian churches.
Patriarch Bartholomew said untiring efforts were needed to eliminate the remaining impediments to full unity, but he voiced the hope that such unity might be achieved "in the near future." His phrase drew sustained applause, although the patriarch added that it might turn out to be a "distant future" instead.
During the two-and-a-half-hour liturgy, the pope handed palliums to 44 archbishops from around the world, including four from the United States. The circular woolen cloth has been a symbol of an archbishop's communion with the papacy since the church's early centuries, well before the Catholic-Orthodox split in 1054.
Patriarch Bartholomew attended the Mass -- and several other encounters at the pope's invitation -- to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the historic embrace between Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras in Jerusalem in 1964.
"That encounter cannot simply be a memory. It is a challenge to us," the pope said in his portion of the sermon. He spoke with considerable effort but in a relatively strong voice, seated in the evening heat a few feet from the patriarch.
The pontiff said the ecumenical path today is not easy or free of hindrances, but that church leaders must never doubt that they have "tried every road." He emphasized, as he has done before, that the Catholic Church's commitment to full Christian unity is "irrevocable."
"No problem should stop us. Rather, let us go forward with hope," he said.
Patriarch Bartholomew said he felt both "joy and sadness" at the liturgy -- joy at being able to participate as an honored guest, but disappointment at the lack of full communion between their churches.
"Our presence here today clearly expresses our sincere desire to remove all the ecclesial obstacles that are not dogmatic or essential," so that experts of both churches can look more closely at the dogmatic differences and try to resolve them, too, he said.
The patriarch said the future of Christian unity should not be envisioned as an organizational or structural model, or as a "leveling" of various Christian traditions, but as a spiritual communion lived by all churches.
At the profession of the faith, the physical limits of the pope were apparent. The patriarch stood and read the Greek-language profession rapidly, in a strong voice. The pope, seated, could only mouth the words.
Later, the pope blessed each archbishop as an aide placed the pallium around their necks. The pope told them the woolen stole represented their link with Rome and their pastoral responsibility toward their faithful.
Those from the United States receiving the pallium were Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley of Boston, Archbishop Henry J. Mansell of Hartford, Conn., and Archbishop Raymond L. Burke of St. Louis.
The ecumenical patriarch is given special honor by all Orthodox churches, and his visit to Rome was seen by many as a chance to move past some of the resentments that have slowed dialogue in recent years. A joint declaration by Vatican and Orthodox officials was expected later in the week.
When he welcomed the patriarch to the Vatican earlier June 29, the pope told him it was time the Catholic and Orthodox churches took a "leap forward" in resolving long-standing ecumenical problems.
Greeting the patriarch as a "beloved brother," the pope said church leaders need to rediscover the energy and the joy that prompted the first major steps in Catholic-Orthodox dialogue in 1964.
Pope John Paul said the 1964 encounter between Pope Paul and Patriarch Athenagoras was "courageous" and should inspire similar steps today, at a time when ecumenical dialogue has been bogged down by local disagreements.
"Moved by trust and love for God, our enlightened predecessors knew how to overcome prejudices and centuries-old misunderstandings," the pope said.
"The remembrance of that encounter should favor a leap forward in dialogue and a strengthening of mutual fraternal relations," he said.
The pope emphasized that the theological dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox was a particular priority for the Vatican, and said he hoped it would "be reactivated as soon as possible." The international Catholic-Orthodox theological dialogue commission has not met since 2000 because of tensions between individual Orthodox churches and local Catholic communities.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican's top ecumenist, said resumption of the theological dialogue was one specific proposal being discussed in the Rome talks. In an interview with Vatican Radio, he said another proposal was to establish a communications office between Rome and the ecumenical patriarch as a way to avoid future misunderstandings.
In his remarks to the ecumenical patriarch, the pope made a point of expressing regret for the sacking of Constantinople by Latin-rite Christians in 1204. That episode was one of many painful memories that have weighed on Catholic-Orthodox relations, he said.
"An army that had left to regain the Holy Land for Christianity directed itself toward Constantinople to conquer it and sack it, spilling the blood of brothers in the faith. Eight centuries later, how can we not share the indignation and pain that Pope Innocent III immediately manifested when he learned what had happened?" the pope said.
The pope made a similar apology in 2001, during a trip to Greece. The destruction of Constantinople -- the former center of the Eastern church and now the city of Istanbul in Turkey -- by pillaging Crusaders is often listed by Orthodox Christians at the top of historical complaints against Rome.
The pope told Patriarch Bartholomew that the point of evoking the painful episodes of the past was not to cast blame, but to ask God to "purify our memories of every prejudice and resentment, and allow us to advance freely on the road to unity."
He said the last 40 years have seen important moments of progress in Catholic-Orthodox relations, including a series of reciprocal visits and dialogue sessions.
"These are all signs of common commitment to continue to walk the road undertaken, so that the will of Christ can be realized as soon as possible: That they may be one," the pope said.
On July 1, the patriarch was to dedicate the newly remodeled Church of St. Theodore on Rome's Palatine Hill. The pope has given the Greek Orthodox community exclusive use of the church, which is in the heart of what was Rome's Greek quarter more than 1,000 years ago.
END
Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.
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