New Book Explains How John Paul II Battled Soviets

This article provides a small glimpse into the strategic encounter between the Vatican and Soviet Communism in 80s -- an encounter that few knew was going on at the time.  Just as John Paul II battled the Soviets in secret, so too does Benedict XVI battle the Chinese, Pakistan, and a host of other Vatican "enemies."  We don't see what's going on or know exactly how everything is taking place, but we can be sure that the battle is taking place nonetheless.


This article comes from the Catholic Herald (UK).
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New details emerge of John Paul II's "war" against Communism

By John Thavis

That Pope John Paul II was a pivotal figure in the fall of European Communism is accepted as a truism, but many details of that drama have remained hidden in archives.

A US biographer of the late pope has now provided particulars of what he describes as the full-scale war by Communism against the Catholic Church, and Pope John Paul’s astute and successful counter-strategy.

The Polish pope displayed political savvy and “a shrewdness that combined steadiness of strategic vision with tactical flexibility”, George Weigel told an audience of seminarians, diplomats and Vatican officials at the Pontifical North American College on Sunday.

One of Pope John Paul’s moves, Mr Weigel said, was to appoint as his own Secretary of State Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, the architect of the Vatican’s “Ostpolitik” efforts to reach workable compromises with communist regimes.

By doing so, he “created tactical advantages for the Church: as the pope preached moral revolution over the heads of Communist regimes, speaking directly to their people, [Cardinal] Casaroli continued his diplomacy, thus denying the Communists the opportunity to charge that the Church had reneged on its commitment to dialogue,” Mr Weigel said.

Mr Weigel said he based his conclusions on previously secret cables and memos that have emerged from behind the former Iron Curtain. He came across the information while researching his latest book on the life of Pope John Paul, The End and the Beginning, which looks at the pope’s final years and evaluates his legacy.

As a point of orientation, he quoted Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, Pope John Paul’s longtime secretary, who once remarked about the Church’s battle with Poland’s Communist regime: “You must understand that it was always ‘them’ and ‘us’.” What he meant, Mr Weigel said, was that “the struggle between Communism and Catholicism could not be understood as a matter of episodic confrontations… It was all war, all the time.”

Certainly that was how Communist leaders from Moscow to Budapest saw it, Mr Weigel said. He catalogued efforts by Communist regimes to place spies in local Catholic hierarchies and the Vatican, to exploit the Church’s moves toward openness and dialogue, to create ecumenical confusion and to compromise Church leaders by planting false stories.

In 1983, Mr Weigel recounted, the Polish security police even decided to blackmail Pope John Paul. The instrument chosen was a fake diary said to have been written by a deceased female employee of the Archdiocese of Krakow, in which the diarist reported she had been the future pope’s lover. The plot fell apart when one of the conspirators, after successfully planting the diary in the home of a Krakow priest, got drunk, crashed his car and blabbed to police about what he’d just done.

Although the story has a Keystone Kops flavour, Mr Weigel noted that the same security police operative would surface a year and a half later – as one of the men who beat Solidarity activist Fr Jerzy Popieluszko to death and dumped his body in the Vistula River.

Mr Weigel said Soviet bloc intelligence services tried to manipulate the debates of the Second Vatican Council for political ends, a process that continued as the “Ostpolitik” policy of the Vatican developed and prevailed. He said the Hungarian regime used the Vatican’s diplomatic opening to take control of the Catholic Church in the country; most bishops nominated after 1964 were co-operators with internal security and foreign intelligence services, he said.

At the Pontifical Hungarian Institute in Rome, all the rectors and half the students in the late 1960s were trained agents of Hungarian secret intelligence, he said.

Mr Weigel said Communist moles were placed successfully at Vatican Radio, at the Vatican newspaper and in pontifical universities. When Pope John Paul II was elected, he took some counter-intelligence steps; for one thing, materials dealing with Poland were no longer archived in the Secretariat of State but were kept in the papal apartment “where there was no chance for mischief-makers to prowl around”, Mr Weigel said.

When Pope John Paul met leaders such as Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, the pope decided not to keep a written record of their conversations, so that the notes would not fall into the wrong hands. Instead, Mr Weigel said, the pope and then-Mgr Dziwisz would discuss the encounters, and the secretary kept notes in diaries that remained under his control.

Mr Weigel said he thinks some lessons can be drawn by the Church’s experience with European Communism, as it looks to present challenges in the world’s remaining Communist states and in Islamic states. For one thing, he said, Vatican efforts to reach beneficial compromises with communist powers “rarely, if ever, paid significant dividends”.

He said a much more valuable witness was provided by church leaders who spoke courageously against the regimes, sometimes paying with their lives.

“Deeply committed and politically shrewd Christian pastors and laity eventually won out over communism. The blood of martyrs, however, was the seed of victory. Their sacrifice, and what we can learn from it about the cardinal virtue of fortitude – courage – must never be forgotten,” he said.

Pope: Europe Must Strengthen Christian (Catholic) Roots

This article comes from the Vatican Information Service blog.
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Europe Must Strengthen Its Christian Roots

VATICAN CITY, 31 DEC 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father has sent a Letter to Archbishop Julian Barrio Barrio of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, to marks today's closing of the Compostela Holy Year.

  The people who have made the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela during the course of this year "must return to their homes as the disciples of Emmaus returned to Jerusalem", the Pope writes. "We cannot be credible witnesses of God if we fail to collaborate with men and women and to serve them. This service to profound understanding and to the courageous defence of man is an evangelical requirement and an essential contribution that we, as Christians, can make to society".

  Addressing himself in particular to the young, "whom I will have the joy to meet next year in Madrid for World Youth Day", the Pope invites them to let themselves "be attracted by Christ, establishing a frank and serene dialogue with Him and asking themselves: Will the Lord be able to rely on me to be His apostle in the world, to be His messenger of love? May your response not be lacking in generosity, nor in the enthusiasm which led St. James to follow his Master with no concern for the sacrifices involved".

  The Holy Father then goes on to encourage seminarians "to identify themselves increasingly with Jesus, Who calls them to work in His vineyard. The priestly vocation is an admirable gift of which we should be proud, because the world needs people completely dedicated to making Jesus Christ present, shaping their lives and their activities around Him, daily repeating His words and gestures with humility, so as to be His image in the flock entrusted to their care".

  "As I conserve in my heart the recollection of my happy stay in Santiago de Compostela, I ask the Lord that the forgiveness and the aspiration to sanctity which have developed during this Compostela Holy Year may, under the guidance of St. James, help to make the redeeming Word of Jesus Christ present in that particular Church and in all of Spain. May this light", he concludes, "also be perceptible in Europe, as an incessant call to strengthen its Christian roots and thus increase its commitment to solidarity and the defence of man's dignity".

Analyst Dissects Vatican WikiLeaks Fallout

This article comes from the National Catholic Reporter.

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Sex abuse crisis, Vatican PR woes figure in WikiLeaks scoops

By John L. Allen, Jr.

Secret diplomatic cables revealed this morning as part of the WikiLeaks releases confirm that while the Vatican was appalled by revelations of clerical sexual abuse in Ireland in 2009 and 2010, it was also offended by demands that the papal ambassador participate in a government-sponsored probe, seeing it as an insult to the Vatican’s sovereign immunity under international law.

 

That stance, according to the cable, came off in Ireland as “pettily procedural” while failing to confront the reality of clerical abuse, and thereby made the crisis worse.

The cables also contain critical diplomatic assessments of Pope Benedict XVI’s recent decision to create new structures to welcome disgruntled Anglicans, as well as the perceived technological illiteracy and communications ineptitude of some senior Vatican officials.

PR woes in the Vatican, according to one cable, have lowered the volume on the pope’s “moral megaphone.”

Newly disclosed cables also indicate that:

• The Vatican has expressed desire to resist the influence of Venezuelan Socialist strongman Hugo Chavez across Latin America;

• It agreed to quietly encourage countries to support the Copenhagen accord on climate change, even though the Holy See does not officially take positions on draft agreements;

• It hoped that Poland would act as a bulwark against radical secularism within the European Union, especially by “holding the line” on life and family issues;

• Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger opposed Turkey’s entry into the European Union, but as pope, Benedict XVI has taken an official neutral stance, while continuing to emphasize the importance of Europe’s Christian roots.

While the cables unveiled this morning don’t really contain any surprises about the Vatican itself, they do lift the veil on how American diplomats and their colleagues have viewed various moves by Rome in recent years.

The revelations come mostly in cables from the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See back to the State Department in Washington, often expressing information gleaned from conversations either with church sources or with other diplomats in Rome.

The cables were unveiled in the Dec. 11 issue of the U.K.-based Guardian newspaper.

One 2009 cable, titled “Sex abuse scandal strains Irish-Vatican relations, shakes up Irish church, and poses challenges for the Holy See,” reports on a conversation between Julieta Valls Noyes, the number two official at the U.S. embassy to the Vatican, and her counterparts in the Irish embassy to the Holy See.

Noyes writes that while the Vatican’s first concern was for the victims of abuse, it also felt that requests for its ambassador in Ireland to cooperate with the “Murphy Commission” probe threatened its sovereignty under international law.

The cable reports that the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, ultimately wrote to the Irish Embassy to the Holy See to insist that any requests for information should come through proper diplomatic channels.

That stance, Noyes wrote, produced backlash in Ireland: “Much of the Irish public views the Vatican protests as pettily procedural and failing to confront the real issue of horrific abuse and cover-up by Church officials,” she wrote.

As the Irish situation developed in late 2009 and early 2010, Noyes went on to say, “the normally cautious Vatican moved with uncharacteristic speed to address the internal church crisis,” pointing to a meeting between Pope Benedict and Irish bishops in February 2010, but she also says that contacts both in Ireland and the Vatican expect the crisis “to be protracted over several years.”

In another 2009 cable, Noyes describes a conversation with Francis Campbell, the ambassador of the United Kingdom to the Holy See, about the pope’s decision to create new structures, called “personal ordinariates,” to welcome traditionalist Anglicans upset with liberalizing moves such as the ordination of women and openly gay bishops, and the blessing of same-sex unions.

The move put the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, in an “impossible situation,” according to Campbell, and potentially constituted “the worst crisis in 150 years” in Anglican-Catholic relations.

According to Noyes’ description of the conversation, Campbell warned that the move could unleash latent anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom, and even provoke acts of violence in isolated cases.

The cable from the U.S. diplomats expressed doubt about “whether the damage to inter-Christian relations was worth it,” especially, it said, “since the number of disaffected Anglicans that will convert is likely to be a trickle rather than a wave.”

Another cable from January 2009 from Noyes, written in the wake of a global controversy provoked by Pope Benedict’s decision to lift the excommunications of four traditionalist Catholic bishops, including one who is a Holocaust denier, said the case revealed a serious “communications gap” in the Vatican.

That gap, according to the cable, leads to “muddled, reactive messaging that reduces the volume of the moral megaphone the Vatican uses to advance its objectives.”

The Vatican spokesperson, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, is the only senior papal aide to use a Blackberry, according to the cable, and most senior Vatican officials don’t even use e-mail accounts.

Because senior Vatican officials typically do not understand the nature of modern communications, the cable asserted, they often speak in “coded” language impossible for the outside world to decipher. Noyes cited an example from the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See, who said he had been given a letter from the Vatican which supposedly contained a positive message for his country, but it was “so veiled he missed it, even when told it was there.”

Part of the communications problem, the cable asserted, is structural: Lombardi is not part of the pope’s inner circle, so he “is the deliverer, rather than a shaper, of the message,” and he is “terribly overworked.”

In the wider Catholic world, the cable added, there are communications success stories – pointing in particular to the way the Catholic group Opus Dei responded to the frenzy created by the novel and movie “The Da Vinci Code.”

In general, the cable reported there's ferment in the Vatican about the need for better communications strategies, but little concrete sense of what to do about it.

“Our Vatican contacts seem to be talking about nothing but the need for better internal coordination on decisions and planned public messages,” it said. “But if or when change will come remains an open question.”

For the moment, it doesn't seem that today's disclosures are likely to create a diplomatic crisis, especially given that the Vatican announced preemptively that it did not want the WikiLeaks revelations to disrupt U.S./Vatican ties.

For one thing, Vatican officials realize that at least some of the critical assessments expressed in the leaked cables, especially on the PR front, are widely shared inside the Vatican itself. In addition, the Obama White House has tried to send reassuring signals to Rome, including the recent appointment of a presidential delegation to attend the Nov. 20 consistory for the creation of 24 new cardinals. It was the first time a U.S. president sent an official delegation to a consistory, and it was seen in the Vatican as a diplomatic way of expressing respect.

At mid-morning, Lombardi, the Vatican spokesperson, released a statement in both Italian and English on the WikiLeaks disclosures.

"Without venturing to evaluate the extreme seriousness of publishing such a large amount of secret and confidential material, and its possible consequences" the statement read, "the Holy See Press Office observes that part of the documents published recently by Wikileaks concerns reports sent to the U.S. State Department by the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See."

"Naturally these reports reflect the perceptions and opinions of the people who wrote them," the statement said, "and cannot be considered as expressions of the Holy See itself, nor as exact quotations of the words of its officials. Their reliability must, then, be evaluated carefully and with great prudence, bearing this circumstance in mind."

U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Miguel Diaz likewise issued a statement, condemning the leaks "in the strongest possible terms" while declining to comment on their authenticity.

The United States and the Holy See are working together on multiple fronts, Diaz said, from fixing the global economy to human rights, climate change and interfaith dialogue, and those partnerships "will withstand this challenge."

Pope, Hungarian PM Discuss EU Leadership

This article comes from the Vatican Information Service.  The video is from Rome Reports.

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HOLY FATHER RECEIVES PRIME MINISTER OF HUNGARY
 

VATICAN CITY, 6 DEC 2010 (VIS) - Today at noon, the Press Office of the Holy See made public the following communique:

"On the morning of Monday, 6 December, the Holy Father Benedict XVI received in audience His Excellency Mr. Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary, who successively met with the Secretary of State, His Eminence Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, accompanied by His Excellency Msgr. Dominique Mamberti, Secretary for Relations with States".

"During the cordial discussion, the prime minister outlined the country's current social, economic, and political situation. The importance of the Christian tradition in the life of the nation and the role of the Catholic Church for its renewal was emphasized. The next semester of Hungarian presidency of the European Union was then discussed, highlighting some convergences of vision between Hungary and the Holy See on major themes that concern the European continent. Finally, a few items regarding relations and cooperation in the region were covered".

Whither the Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue?

This article comes from Catholic Culture.

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Catholic-Orthodox talks on papacy: officials optimistic, while Moscow denies breakthrough

The Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, which met in Vienna last week, failed to produce any breakthrough in its dialogue of the papal primacy, according to Metropolitan Hilarion, the Russian Orthodox Church’s leading ecumenical officer. 

Metropolitan Hilarion’s assessment strikes a different tone from the optimism on display at a September 24 press conference in Vienna. 

“Contrary to media reports, no ‘breakthroughs’ were accomplished,” Metropolitan Hilarion said. “The entire meeting was devoted to the role of the Bishop of Rome in the first millennium.” 

At the September 24 press conference, Metropolitan John Zizioulas of Pergamon, who co-chaired the dialogue, said: 

There are no clouds of mistrust between our two churches. Our predecessors and especially the leaders of our churches both on the Catholic and the Orthodox side have prepared a way for a friendly and brotherly discussion. I must assure you that this spirit prevailed in our discussions. And therefore I wish to assure that if we continue like that, God will find a way to overcome all the difficulties that remain, and bring our two churches – the most ancient churches, the churches that share the same ecumenical past, the same traditions, the same sense of the Church — to bring us to full community [communion].

Archbishop Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and co-chair of the dialogue, said in turn:

Pope Benedict XVI already said in his famous lecture in Graz in 1976 that we cannot expect more from the Orthodox than what was practiced in the first millennium. So the basic discussion is about how these churches lived in the first millennium and how we can find a new (common) path today. This discussion needs the necessary free space (‘Freiraum’) and it needs patience. .. I know some people can be impatient but patience is an expression of love. People know from personal experience what it means when two people in a marriage drift apart — we have 1,000 years to work through. We must and we want to take new paths because Jesus gave us the mission to live together.

The Vienna meeting was the twelfth session of the dialogue, which first met in 1980. The tenth session, which took place in Ravenna in 2007, produced the “Ravenna document,” which was hailed as a breakthrough by Cardinal Walter Kasper (then president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity) but criticized by Catholic and Orthodox officials engaged in ecumenical dialogue in the US, including Archbishop Gregory Aymond.

At the eleventh session, which took place in Cyprus in 2009, participants in the dialogue discussed “The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium,” a joint Orthodox-Catholic committee document drafted in 2008 in Crete. This document examines the role of the Pope in the first millennium; its emphasis is on the history (rather than on the theology) of papal primacy.

At the twelfth session in Vienna, dialogue participants again examined the committee document. Referring to the Ravenna document, Archbishop Koch said:

I think there is certainly a recognition that in the early days of the Church, there was a practice or an order of things in which Rome had a special role, a primary role. We still have to speak about what that meant and implied. Ravenna was the great recognition that there must be a protos, a first one, at all levels — at the level of the local church, of the region and on the universal level. Now we are at the universal level and we’re looking more closely what this protos at this level looked like at that time. This is something new.

Referring to the Ravenna document and the committee document, Metropolitan Zizioulas added:

We are still studying the first millennium, we have not reached a conclusion yet. But the main and most important thing we have discovered in the discussions is that what we decided in Ravenna seems to be confirmed by the history of the first millennium. In other words in the first millennium there was a recognition of the special role that the Bishop of Rome played in the Church. There was also the fact that the Bishop of Rome did not operate without consultation with other bishops in his own area as well as universal. So we are discovering that in history and this is an important aspect.

Metropolitan Hilarion, on the other hand, expressed displeasure with the committee document because it “carries no clear assertion that the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome in the first millennium did not extend to the East,” in the words of the Russian news agency Interfax.

Even though Eastern church leaders would turn to the Pope as an arbiter in theological disputes during the first millennium, said Metropolitan Hilarion, this fact “cannot in any way suggest that the Bishop of Rome was seen in the East as the possessor of supreme authority over the universal Church.”

Referring to tensions with the Russian Orthodox over the committee document, Metropolitan Zizioulas said, “The Church of Russia was absent from Ravenna for reasons that had nothing to do with our dialogue. [They] didn’t leave Ravenna because of the dialogue. 

What we decided in Ravenna was already prepared by previous meetings in which the Russian Church participated also. Therefore essentially there is no problem … On the whole the basic ideas of Ravenna are accepted by all the Orthodox churches.”

The international commission will meet in two years to discuss the committee document 

again. The commission will also discuss papal primacy from a theological point of view. In the meantime, both Archbishop Koch and Metropolitan Zizioulas outlined what they see as the steps ahead.

Archbishop Koch said:

First we started with each church describing its vision on unity. The Catholic and the Orthodox visions probably won’t be the same. We saw the questions we will have to discuss — papal primacy and synodality. The Catholic Church has a strong primacy (of the pope) but probably has not developed synodality as much as the Orthodox Church. The strength of the Orthodox Church is its synodality, but the doctrine of primacy is not that strong. We will be able to enrich each other. The basic principle of ecumenism is the exchange of gifts. The first step is to tell each other individually how we imagine unity would look like. For the Catholic Church, of course, unity without the Bishop of Rome is unimaginable. That’s because the issue of the Bishop of Rome is not just an organizational question, but also a theological one. The dialogue about just how this unity should be shaped must be continued intensively. Unity means that we see each other fully as sister churches. Just like the (Catholic) church in Vienna is the sister church of the church in Basel, the Orthodox church will be a sister church for us.

I think the pope himself is thinking in this direction. He’s said to the Anglicans who want to come back that they would be able to keep their tradition and celebrate their liturgy. So he’s said himself that there should be diversity. That will be the second step. It’s far too early to ask each other how we can do this together

Metropolitan Zizioulas added:

I’m in full agreement with what Archbishop Koch said. The model will emerge in the future. We don’t operate with a preconceived model. It will be the result of a certain … I would say — I won’t call it reformation , that is too strong — but adaptation from both sides. What the Orthodox must strengthen is their universal unity and also their conception of primacy. And perhaps the Catholic side must strengthen more the dimension of synodality. If those two things happen the result will come close to a conception of a church which is united in its basic structure in the right way.

Of course we have to be united in faith too. There are certain fundamental things which have to be clarified in maters of faith. The rest can be left to diversity. There are customs, liturgical customs and other customs, that can be left to each church freely to arrange. As far as the Orthdox council is concerned we recognize that autocephaly is a problem, especially when it is associated with nationalistic aspects. But I am glad to say that we’re making good progress towards a pan-Orthodox council and we hope that very soon we will be able to invoke such a council…

The next meeting will depend on the progress we make on this subject that we are discussing now. It looks as if we are going to have a slight change of our subject, namely to make the historical material focus on theological questions more. This will require another period of preparation by subcommittees and debate — that is probably a period of one year. We hope that in two years’ time we can convene again as a plenary commission. But this will depend on the progress we make.

Pope and Patriarch Share Eco-Theology

This article comes from the Catholic News Agency.

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Pope and Ecumenical Patriarch promote protecting environment

Vatican City, Aug 30, 2010 / 04:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday, the Holy Father prayed for God's assistance in protecting the earth for future generations. Both he and Patriarch Bartholomew I have made statements concerning the environment as the "Day for the Protection of the Environment" approaches.

The Orthodox Church-created and Italian Bishops' Conference-promoted event takes place on Sept. 1 under the theme "If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation." The same theme was used by Benedict XVI for the World Day for Peace.

After Sunday's Angelus, Pope Benedict commented on the "day," which he noted is also an important moment for ecumenical relations. "Indeed," he said, "we have the duty to hand the earth on to future generations in such a condition that they too can worthily inhabit it and subsequently conserve it.

"May the Lord help us in this task!" prayed the Pope.

Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I, referred to by some as the "Green Patriarch," has issued an official statement for the celebration. His predecessor, Patriarch Demetrios, originally established the start of the Orthodox liturgical year, Sept. 1, as a day of prayer for the protection of the environment.

Explaining that in today's world, economic and social stability are very closely attached to environmental conditions, he announced that there is a "dire need in our day for a combination of societal sanctions and political initiatives, such that there is a powerful change in direction, to a path of viable and sustainable environmental development."

Pope Benedict XVI has also taught extensively on the relationship of these elements, dedicating a significant portion of his encyclical "Caritas in veritate" to the theme. In that encyclical, he wrote that "one of the greatest challenges facing the economy is to achieve the most efficient use - not abuse - of natural resources … " The Pontiff also exhorted the Church to assert its "responsibility towards creation" in the public sphere.

The Italian bishops' conference initiative will be observed with an ecumenical pilgrimage, which will traverse along a route called the "Path of Creation." The path will take pilgrims through a canyon in the Italian Alps.

Catholic & Russian Orthodox Leaders Embrace

This article comes from Zenit.

The union between the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches will come in time.  And when it does, the world will witness one of the most powerful geopolitical juggernauts ever created.  The sheer human capital at its disposal will be truly staggering, not to mention its global reach and political clout.

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Catholic, Russian Orthodox Churches Embrace

Cardinal and Metropolitan Show Will for Unity at Rimini Meeting

ROME, AUG. 24, 2010 (Zenit.org).- High-ranking representatives of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches embraced on Monday in a moment reflecting a will for unity between the two Churches.

A photo of the embrace between Cardinal Peter Erdo and Metropolitan Filaret was printed with the title "Europe's Brothers."

The embrace between the two high-level representatives was a highlight of the 31st Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples, an annual event sponsored by the Catholic Communion and Liberation Movement in Rimini, Italy.

The cardinal and metropolitan made their embrace of unity as they joined in a debate on the topic "Can An Educated Man, a European of Our Days, Actually Believe in the Divinity of the Son of God, Jesus Christ?"

Cardinal Erdo is the archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary, and the president of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE). Filaret is the metropolitan of Minsk and Sluzk and Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus.

2011 meeting?

The Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches are already united in their common stance on many issues affecting Europe: challenges to life and family and religious freedom among them. Recently, an apostolic nunciature was opened in Moscow, and there is ever greater insistence on a meeting between Benedict XVI and Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

To this end, Metropolitan Filaret said that "the time is ripe for a meeting between the Pope and the Patriarch. It might even be possible in 2011; in principle I see no obstacles,"

"We have been in dialogue with the Catholic Church for some time, at times with moments of exhilaration, at others with a fall in tensions," he added. "Now we are in a moment of stability, but between us, we, the parties, are open to dialogue. I hope this atmosphere will continue."

Cardinal Erdo pointed to Catholic-Orthodox union in dogmatic issues. "Hence, for me," he said, "the circumstance that we are not in full and complete communion is a physical pain."

Debate

The cardinal and metropolitan considered the debate topic on Christ's divinity, a theme drawn from notes of the novel "Demons" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It reflects a question among the European elite of the 1860s, which returns with burning timeliness.

Filaret observed that "Europe is completely changed; European man has changed to the point of being irreconcilable. However, the question is always the same."

He reflected on the doubts plaguing Europeans of our day and suggested a "lively conscience" to overcome them -- a conscience that "does not grow silent, but that sets afire the lies that deceive the heart, and unmasks the sin that besieges the soul."

"We must pray so that the Lord will help our faith because everything is possible for one who believes," the metropolitan concluded.

For his part, Cardinal Erdo pointed to the contradictions in contemporary European intellectuals.

He suggested that a "trite atheism" and the "famous historical and dialectical materialism of traditional Marxism" do not seem attractive. But, pantheism is fashionable, he proposed.

"If the man of today asks himself seriously the question on the existence of God, absolute, transcendent and personal, he must investigate also the possibility of communion between God and man that took place in Jesus Christ," the cardinal said.

"God is only one, and only one is the mediator between God and men: the man Jesus Christ," stressed Cardinal Erdo. Because of this, "we must be messengers and missionaries of the new evangelization of Europe. We must be united with our other Christian brothers, because unity can reinforce our testimony."

Pope Displeased with Sarkozy Deportations

This article comes from the Catholic News Agency.

I should reiterate one basic theme here: the Vatican wants to destroy all national boundaries and create a global political system based on Catholic socialism.  This case is merely one more example of Rome coming out against a political leader who acts contrary to this plan.

For a more definitive statement from the Vatican on the deportations, see here.

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After immigrant expulsions in France, Pope calls for education in brotherhood

Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Aug 23, 2010 / 04:57 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Following Sunday's Angelus prayer, Pope Benedict XVI invited parents to educate their children in "universal fraternity." The call came just days after President Nicolas Sarkozy gave the go-ahead for the expulsion of certain illegal immigrants from France.

According to French news reports, last week President Nicolas Sarkozy followed through with his plan, and began expelling the first of nearly 1,000 illegal Roma and Gypsy immigrants, who are all due to be deported this month. 

AFP reported that from Aug. 19-20 more than 200 individuals accepted a government handout of 300 euros (380 dollars) as they volunteered to be flown back to Romania. Those who have the same legal status in France and do not come forward will reportedly be ordered by the government to leave in September without any compensation.

Citing the message from Sunday's liturgy that all men are called to salvation, the Holy Father, in his French-language greeting, said that this is "an invitation to know how to accept legitimate differences among humans, just like Jesus came to bring men together from all nations and languages."

In this context, the Pope called for parents to educate children in "universal fraternity."

The recent policy of expulsion has been contested by a number of Church, human rights and opposition government officials. The secretary of the Pontifical Council for Migrant and Itinerant peoples, Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, told Vatican Radio on Friday that additional pressure was put on the people in question as 51 illegal encampments had been dismantled since the beginning of the month, creating "a situation of non-freedom."

In a separate statement to AFP the archbishop argued that the deportations are against European norms, "One cannot generalize and take an entire group of people and kick them out."

Holy See Sends First Nuncio to Russia

This article comes from Zenit.

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Holy See Sends 1st Nuncio to Russia

Relations Upgraded to Full Diplomatic Ties

VATICAN CITY, JULY 27, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Archbishop Antonio Mennini, until now the Pope's representative to the Russian Federation, is now the Holy See's first apostolic nuncio to the country, the Vatican is reporting.

The archbishop presented his letters of credence to Foreign Affairs Minister Sergej Lavrov on July 15 in a ceremony that was followed by a "cordial" meeting, reported the Vatican press office.

Last December, Benedict XVI and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to upgrade relations between the two sides to full diplomatic ties, which raises the level of representation to apostolic nuncio and embassy.  

The two sides have maintained representation below the rank of ambassador since 1990.

In an address to the new nuncio, Alexander Krusko, the vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, reviewed the development of bilateral relations between the Russian Federation and the Holy See. He noted that the relations between the two were "characterized by a growing understanding and spirit of collaboration," reported L'Osservatore Romano.

Krusko also assured Archbishop Mennini, on behalf of the Russian president, of "a fruitful collaboration in the great moral and ethical challenges posed to man today."

For his part, the archbishop transmitted the Pope's greeting to the Russian president, assuring his "collaboration for a further reinforcement of relations with the government, as well as for the spiritual and moral growth of the Russian people."

This ceremony brought to an end the exchange of embassies, which began on June 26 in Rome with the presentation of the letters of credence of the first Russian ambassador to the Holy See, Mikolaj Sadlichov.

Ecumenical War in Eastern Europe

This article comes from Chiesa.
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Ecumenism: The True Story of a War That Never Was


By Sandro Magister

ROME, July 19, 2010 – Among the dossiers that Cardinal Walter Kasper has handed over to his successor, Swiss archbishop Kurt Koch, the new president of the pontifical council for Christian unity (in the photo), one of the most dramatic concerns Ukraine.

Suffice it to say that during his visit to Rome last May, the chairman of the department of external relations of the patriarchate of Moscow and all Rus, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, mentioned none other than the Ukrainian question as the only real obstacle to a meeting between Benedict XVI and Russian Orthodox patriarch Kirill.

Less than one month ago, www.chiesa dedicated an entire article to the Ukrainian question:

> Ukraine plays referee between the Pope and the Patriarch of Moscow

Among other things, this article referred to one of the most critical moments of conflict between Rome and Moscow, with Ukraine as the epicenter, which happened between 2003 and 2004. The object of contention was the elevation to patriarchate of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, strongly desired by that same Church but intolerable for Russian ecclesiology, for which no "Roman" patriarchate can exist in a territory where an Orthodox patriarchate already exists.

In fact, this is just how ecumenical patriarch of Constinople Bartholomew I began a bitter letter to John Paul II dated November 29, 2003:

"I would like to draw your attention to a very serious question […]. It is the matter in particular of your intention of setting up the [Greek-Catholic] Patriarchy in the Ukraine, an intention that has been communicated to our brother Alexis Patriarch of Moscow and of all Russia by Your Cardinal Walter Kasper, as the Patriarch of Moscow informed me."

After a long argument, Bartholomew I concluded that if the new Greek-Catholic patriarchate were to become a reality, it would be a catastrophe for the ecumenical movement.

But is that how things really happened? Did Cardinal Kasper really write to the patriarch of Moscow, who at the time was Alexy, announcing Rome's decision to elevate the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church to a patriarchate? And did Kasper really have to go running to Moscow to retract the announcement?

An authoritative source at the pontifical council for Christian unity has provided www.chiesa with a reconstruction very different from the one that emerges from Bartholomew I's letter:

"It is not true that Cardinal Kasper announced in a letter to the patriarch of Moscow the elevation of the senior archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, to the rank of patriarch. Such a letter, with an announcement of such significance, would have been possible only with the authorization of the pope, which was never given. In a previous meeting of cardinals, Kasper was not the only one to have expressed serious reservations about such a step: even then cardinal Joseph Ratzinger put his objections in writing. Kasper's letter to Moscow contained only a few reflections on the history and canonical status of the patriarchates from the Catholic point of view, reflections identical to those formulated by Cardinal Ratzinger.

"But the patriarchate of Moscow either misunderstood the letter, or, more probably, it used it to urge other Orthodox patriarchates to write letters of protest to Rome, the most blistering of which was the one by Bartholomew I. Bartholomew was under pressure from Moscow, and wanted to show in this way that he, and not Alexy I, was the real 'ecumenical' leader of Orthodoxy. Pope John Paul II, in his prudent response to the patriarch of Constantinople, declared his 'surprise' at what he had found written in the letter, and invited Bartholomew I to Rome. The visit took place, proceeded very peacefully, and no mention was even made of the controversy concerning the Ukrainian patriarchate: absolute silence, as if it had never happened. Even Bartholomew I never revisited the question, making it seem that not he but others had written that letter dated November 29, 2003, very erudite from the viewpoint of traditional Orthodox historiography."

***

The same source from the pontifical council for Christian unity also wanted to correct another passage in the article from www.chiesa, where it says that the chill between Rome and Moscow lasted until the end of John Paul II's pontificate, to be thawed only afterward, with the new pope:

"It isn't so. After the incident mentioned above, Cardinal Kasper went to Moscow several times and the climate between the two sides began to improve. The real breakthrough was in 2004, when the pope sent the icon of the Mother of God of Kazan to the patriarch of Moscow, accompanied by a very friendly exchange of letters between John Paul II and Alexy. This was the gesture that broke the ice. And so it was possible for John Paul II's funeral and the enthronement of Pope Benedict XVI to be attended by almost all the Orthodox patriarchates, including that of Moscow: something that had never taken place in the whole long history of the Church. So the terrain of relations with Moscow and with the other Orthodox patriarchates was already well prepared at the beginning of the new pontificate. On Moscow's part, there were then further reasons for a change of attitude, with the new pope. The fact that John Paul II was Polish, while his successor is German, is certainly one of these reasons, but entirely marginal in this context."

Scholar Ponders Catholic Revival in Europe

This article comes from the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
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Catholic Revival in Europe?

By George Weigel

In mid-May, Pope Benedict XVI made an apostolic pilgrimage to Portugal; half a million people attended the outdoor papal Mass at Fatima.

When the Pope returned to Rome, two hundred thousand pilgrims jammed St. Peter's Square for Benedict's recitation of the Sunday "Regina Coeli," demonstrating their support for a pontiff beset for months by criticism over abusive clergy and irresponsible bishops.

A week later, a 44-day exposition of the Shroud of Turin in the cathedral of that northern Italian city concluded. Over the course of six weeks, some two million people braved long lines to spend a few brief moments before what many believe to be the burial clothes of Christ.

To vary Mark Twain: Have reports of Christianity's death in Europe been greatly exaggerated?

It's a fair question, and as one who has been ringing the alarm bells about a European crisis of civilizational morale since the publication of The Cube and the Cathedral in 2005, I'm obliged to try to answer it.

The answer is: It's too early to tell.

The vast flock of pilgrims at Fatima, the enthusiasm for the Pope manifest on a sunny Roman spring day, the extraordinary numbers who came to see the Shroud -- these are all encouraging signs. So is the intense piety that continues to be evident in Poland, most recently in the wake of the tragic deaths of so many national leaders in an April plane crash, while they were en route to the killing grounds of the Katyn forest. So, in an odd way, are the virulent attacks on the Church and the Pope these past several months. No one expends energy berating an institution deemed moribund and an 83-year old man considered an irrelevance; the attacks themselves are evidence that Christian faith -- and the Catholic Church -- remain factors in European culture and European public life.

Moreover, if World Youth Day 2011, to be held in Madrid next August 16-21, turns out a million or more young pilgrims, which seems possible, a challenge will have been laid down to the hyper-secularist Zapatero government in Spain and to Europe's aging children of the Sixties, who may tolerate Christianity as a personal lifestyle choice (if considering it an exceedingly odd one) but who also insist that 21st century European public life must be stripped of religiously-informed moral argument.

The game-changer in all this, however, will be when these mass public displays of Christian conviction and piety become culture-transforming, and thus capable of getting traction in the public square. And it's not easy to see that happening in Europe anytime soon. European Catholicism has little of the infrastructure for cultural combat that has been built in the United States over the past few decades. For example: there is simply nothing in Europe like First Things and its stable of writers, whose essays and articles demand attention from public officials, academics, the general media, and other opinion merchants. That's not my idiosyncratic view as a longtime First Things contributor and now the chairman of its board; that's what my European friends and colleagues tell me.

Getting that kind of cultural traction requires hard work and resources. Above all, however, it requires a critical mass of radically converted Christian disciples, who have been through moments like Father Robert Barron of Chicago lived in Turin:

"I have to admit that it was one of the most extraordinary religious experiences of my life. The marks on the Shroud -- including the blood stains -- are clearly visible, which means that the brutal reality of the Passion is clearly visible. Staring at the Shroud, I was brought vividly back to that squalid little hill outside the city walls of Jerusalem in the year 30 where a young man was tortured to death. But then the face of the figure comes into focus: that strange, haunting, noble, peaceful face, which discloses, at the same time, the depth of human misery and the fullness of divine mercy. In the face of the crucified God, the full drama and poetry of Christian faith is on display, the Answer which is anything but an easy answer, the Word which surpasses the word of any philosopher..."

George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

Ukraine an Obstacle to Catholic-Orthodox Unity

This article comes from Chiesa.

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Ukraine plays referee between the Pope and the Patriarch of Moscow

By Sandro Magister

ROME, June 28, 2010 – From many years now the feast of the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul is a deep moment of dialogue between the Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches, with the participation of delegates from the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, if not of the Patriarch himself, to the liturgies celebrated by the Pope.

This dialogue with Benedict XVI has made incredible progress. Even the primacy of the Pope – main historical reason for the schism –is not taboo anymore and has become the object of ecumenical seminars.

During the current pontificate, even the relationships between the Church of Rome and the larger part of the Orthodoxy, that is the Church of Russia, have definitely improved. Both agree in addressing together the major priority for Christians in Europe today: a new evangelization of all of those who are far from faith. The same new evangelization which Benedict XVI has decided to dedicate a specific office of the Roman Curia.

At a practical stage though, there is still an obstacle that stands between Rome and Moscow and that prevents the meeting of the Pope with the Russian Patriarch. Meeting that has never taken place in history, but that both Benedict and Kirill I wish with all their hearts.

This obstacle is Ukraine.

*

For the Russians Ukraine is their homeland. Russia rose from Kiev, more than a thousand years ago from the Viking principality of Rus, it is here that it converted itself to Christianity, and it is here that it still has the archetypes of its faith, of its art, of its liturgy, of its monasticism, it is here where it gets its vocations and most of its financial support.

But in Ukraine is where there is also the largest Eastern -Rite Catholic population of the world, more than five million. They are very similar to the Orthodox, in the Greek-Byzantine liturgies, in their traditions and in their married clergy. They are different only because they obey to the Pope.

The relationship with the Pope that some Ukrainian Christians have, is due to historical events, the alternating dominations now and then of the Poles and of the Russians. Poland favoured it. Russia hindered it. At the end of the 1700's, when Poland disappeared as a State and the Russians occupied the region and imposed Orthodoxy, the Ukrainians faithful to the Pope moved to Galicia which was part of Vienna's Catholic empire. It is here that in the 1800's the myth of the Slav Pope capable of giving them a victory was born.

But during the Second World War the Soviet Union occupied all of Ukraine; even the Greek-Catholic Church that had survived in Galicia was wiped out. In 1946 Moscow organized at Lvov, Russian name for the Ukrainian Lviv, a so called synod which obliged everyone to turn to Orthodoxy. The Archbishop Josyf Slipji, legitimate head of the Greek-Catholics was put in prison. He will be released and exiled in 1963.

In 1989 thanks to the fall of the Berlin wall the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church was able to leave its catacombs with its Bishops, its priests and its faithful. It immediately claimed the Orthodox Church to give back the churches and the houses. In some cases, few, the rendering was carried out peacefully. But in many other areas the issue was a reason for physical conflict, with violent occupations and ejections. A conflict which is still today only partially resolved.

In 2001 Pope John Paul II galvanized the Catholics when he visited Ukraine and canonized 27 martyrs of the Communist regime, one of which was killed in boiling water, another crucified in prison and another buried alive.

But for the Orthodox and the Russians, mindful of the past conflicts, the Polish nationality of this Pope was perceived as a threat. In each of Karol Wojtyla's decisions which concerned the vast territory “of all Russia" – from the nominee of new Bishop to the dispatch of a new missionary – the Patriarchate of Moscow perceived it as an intolerable act of invasion.

The most hated and feared decision would have been the elevation of the Patriarchate of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, with seat in Kiev. Nothing in fact is more intolerable, for the Russian ecclesiology, than a rival “Roman" Patriarchate in a territory with an already existing Orthodox Patriarchate. Even more so where there is the Patriarchate of Moscow which from the XVIth century is known with the title of "Third Rome".

At the end of 2003 the elevation of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Patriarchate was practically done. The successor of Slipji, the Major Archbishop and Cardinal Lubomyr Husar (in the photo), moved to Kiev, near his new "Patriarchal" church which was being built. From Rome Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, sent to the Patriarch of Moscow, Alexy II, a letter announcing that Pope John Paul II was intending to establish in Kiev a Greek-Catholic Patriarchate. Attached to the letter there was a long document with the canonical and historical evidence supporting this decision.

Heaven forbid. Alexy II showed Kasper's letter to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Costantinople, Bartholomew I. After reading it he wrote a furious reply to John Paul II, pointing out what catastrophe for the ecumenical dialogue would the Greek-Catholic Patriarchate in Kiev be. The letter to the Pope of Bartholomew I, dated November 29, 2003, was revealed on the Catholic International monthly "30 Days", published in Rome, directed by Senator Giulio Andreotti and compulsory reading in the Vatican.

The Vatican decided to put a halt on the situation. Kasper flew to Moscow to declare that the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Patriarchate was not anymore amongst the decisions in agenda. But in Ukraine the situation was very tense. From Rome, a proud supporter of the Greek-Catholics, the American Jesuit Robert Taft, Professor at the Pontifical Oriental Institute and international expert of the Byzantine and Slav world, in an interview to John Allen of "National Catholic Reporter" suggested to get down to facts: proclaiming autonomously the Patriarchate and only afterwards ask Rome to recognize something which had already taken place. Considering the Orthodox objections he said: "It is useless trying to convince them. Take it or leave it. To hell with Moscow".

At the end of John Paul II's pontificate this was the situation. In Ukraine it was war between Catholics and Orthodox. War of the two Patriarchates.

*

Today instead, just a few years later, between first and third Rome there seems to be peace. Benedict XVI is not Polish but German and this is an important difference. He is a theologian who knows the ecclesiology of the Eastern Churches.

Since Joseph Ratzinger is Pope, there is no mention of new Greek-Catholic Patriarchate. He doesn’t mention it and the Ukrainians don't either.

In 2008, at the end of January, the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Bishops were invited to an "ad limina" visit to the Vatican. It was the first time after 70 years.  Not a single word was mentioned on the Patriarchate.

Considering the relationship with the Orthodox, the Pope told them: "We have to humbly recognize that on this issue there still are real obstacles".

But the Pope also encouraged peace first of all amongst Catholics, that is to put aside the “misunderstandings" in Ukraine between Greek-Catholics and Roman Catholics who are nearly all Polish and not too well off.

What Benedict XVI mostly invokes is common action between Catholics and Orthodox in order to re-evangelize the vast population that in Ukraine has abandoned the Christian faith, after decades of Atheist domination. This need is considered as particularly important also by the Patriarchate of Moscow, guided today by Kirill I.

In Ukraine it is estimated, that on a population of 50 million inhabitants, the Orthodox are 30%, the Catholics are 10%, the Protestants are 3%, the Jews nearly 1%. The declared Atheists are 15%. "All the others are far from faith, are not part of any Church, are however open and willing to accept God’s message with concern and great interest. For this reason, we have to go towards them and introduce Christ to them. This is a great evangelization challenge for us". So affirmed the Major Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Archbishop, Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, while he was in Rome for his "ad limina" visit, in an interview to "L'Osservatore Romano".

*

From that "ad limina" visit till today another couple of facts have to be pointed out. A positive one and a negative one.

Positive news happened just a few days ago. A delegation of the Patriarchate of Moscow headed by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk met, in Warsaw, a delegation of Polish Bishops, headed by the Archbishop Primate of Gniezno Henryk Muszynski, to agree on a common declaration of reciprocal forgiveness, of reconciliation and of cooperation between the two Churches.

Considering the secular conflicts that took place between Orthodox Russia and Catholic Poland, it is a real turning point. The two delegations compared their drafts of the future document and left each other with faith on rapid progress. The next meeting will be held in Moscow.

Negative news concerns the Ukrainian Catholic University, in Lviv, the only Catholic University within the ex Soviet Union, defined by Benedict XVI "as a valid support to ecumenical action".

On May 18, the SBU agents, the Ukrainian security services that took over from the notorious KGB, paid a visit to the Rector, Borys Gudziak, 50 years old, born in the United States with a Harvard Ph. D in Byzantine and Slav literature and history, pretending his signature on a collaboration letter with the services.

Gudziak publicly revealed this arrogant episode and on May 26 the authorities declared that a mistake had occurred. In any case, this act is part of growing pressures against civil rights and against the Catholic Church which have got worse, since the rise in power in February, of the pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovich.

The Greek-Catholic Church – who in these elections and in the ones before has always sided with the pro-Western candidates – has seen its situation get worse with the victory of Yanukovich.  It is still waiting to be completely legally recognized. The churches, the convents, the schools, the hospitals which were given back after the fall of the Soviet Union do not receive financial aid in order to be restored and work again.

Vice versa, public funding goes to the Orthodox Church, considered State religion. The new President is in contact only with the Orthodox Church, neglecting the Greek-Catholic Church.

The Rector Gudziak and others along with him believe that the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow, in Ukraine, should support the ecumenical words of brotherhood addressed to the Church of Rome, with facts.

Benedict's "Basic Theme"? Universal Peace on Earth

These details from Pope Benedict's press conference come from the Vatican Radio website.

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(04 Jun 10 - RV) Below we publish a Vatican Radio translation of the press conference held by Pope Benedict XVI on route to Cyprus:

Your Holiness thank you for making time for us as in every trip and for sharing a few words with us to help direct the focus of our attention during coming days that promise to be intense. Naturally and, unfortunately, the first question is almost obligatory, given yesterday’s painful circumstances, the murder of Bishop Padovese, which caused you deep pain. So on behalf of all my colleagues we wanted to ask you for a few words about how you took this news and with what spirit you now start your visit to Cyprus, given this atmosphere?.
 
Naturally I am deeply saddened by the death of Mgr. Padovese, who also contributed much to the preparation of the Synod. He collaborated and would have been a valuable asset to the Synod . We recommend his soul to the goodness of the Lord. This shadow, however, has nothing to do with the issues and the realities of this trip, this is why we must not attribute the fact to Turkey or the Turkish people. We have very little information about the facts surrounding the episode, what is certain is that is was not a religious or political assassination, it was a personal issue. We are still waiting for a full explanation of events, but we do not want this tragic situation to become mixed up with dialogue with Islam or with all of the problems of our journey. It is a separate issue, one that saddens us deeply, but one that should not in any way obscure dialogue in its widest sense which is a theme and intention of this trip.


Cyprus is a divided land. Your Holiness, you will not be travelling in the northern part occupied by the Turks. Do you have a message for the inhabitants of that region? How do you think that your visit will help resolve the distance between the Greek and Turkish parts, to move towards a solution of peaceful coexistence and respect for the freedom of religion and spiritual and cultural patrimony of the different communities?
 
This journey to Cyprus is in many ways a continuation of my journey to the Holy Land last year and also journey to Malta this year. The journey to the Holy Land had three parts, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories. In the case of all three, my journey was a pastoral and religious one and not a political or tourist trip. The basic theme was the peace of Christ, which must be universal peace in the world. The subject was, on the one hand the proclamation of our faith, witness of faith, the pilgrimage to these places that bear witness to Christ and our entire sacred history. On the other hand the responsibility of all of us (believers) in a God creator of heaven and earth, a God in whose image we were created. Malta and Cyprus also bring to the fore the theme of St. Paul, the great believer and evangelizer, and also St. Barnabas, who is a Cypriot and who opened the door to the mission of St. Paul. Therefore in bearing witness to our faith to the one and only God, dialogue and peace are the themes. Peace in a very profound sense, is not an political addition to our religious activity, but peace is a word in the heart of faith, it is at the very centre of Pauline teaching, we need only think of the Letter to the Ephesians, which says that Christ has brought peace, destroyed the walls of enmity. This remains a permanent mandate, so I do not come with a political message, but with a religious message, which should prepare more souls to find an opening for peace. These are not things that happen overnight, but it is very important not only to make the necessary political steps, but above all prepare souls to prepare for necessary political steps, making them open to the inner peace that in the end comes from faith in God and the belief that we are all children of God and brothers and sisters to each other.


Your Holiness you are travelling to the Middle East a few days after the Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla added further tension to an already difficult peace process. How do you think the Holy See, the Vatican, can contribute to supporting this difficult time for the Middle East?
 
I would say that we contribute primarily in a religious way, we can be of help with strategic and political advice, but the essential work of the Vatican has always been religious, that touches the heart. With all these episodes that we are experiencing the danger is that we will run out of patience and no longer want to search for peace. And here, in this Year for Priests, a good story of the Curè d’Ars comes to mind. To the people who would say, its no use me going to confession when the day after tomorrow I will commit the same sins, the parish priest of Ars would say: it does not matter, the Lord willingly forgets that the day after tomorrow you will commit the same sins, he forgives you completely now and will be patiently forbearing in helping you come to him. So we must almost imitate God, his patience. After all the episodes of violence we must not lose patience, we must not lose courage, we must not to lose the forbearance to start over. Creating these provisions of the heart to start over again in the certainty that we can go on, we can arrive at peace, that violence is not the solution, but the patience of the good. Creating this provision, I think , is the main task of the Vatican and its organs and the Pope.


Your Holiness, there has been a lot of progress in dialogue with the Orthodox in terms of cultural, spiritual and life issue. At the recent concert hosted for you by the Patriarch of Moscow, the profound harmony between Orthodox and Catholics was felt particularly in relation to the challenges to Christianity in Europe from secularization. But what is your assessment from a more strictly theological point of view?
 
Let me start by underscoring these great strides that we have made in our common witness to Christian values in the secular world. This is not just a coalition of political morality, but it is really something profoundly rooted in faith, because the fundamental values for which we are in this secular world is not moralism, but the fundamental physiognomy of Christian faith. When we are able to witness these values, to engage in dialogue, discussion of this world, witnessing to live these values, we have already made a fundamental witness of a very deep unity of faith. Of course there are many theological problems, but here there are very strong elements of unity. I would like to mention three elements we unite us, which see us getting closer, drawing closer. First, Scripture; the Bible is not a book that fell from heaven, it is a book that grew within the people of God, that lives in this common subject of God's people and only here is always present and real, that can not be isolated, but is the nexus of tradition and Church. This awareness is essential and belongs to the foundation of Orthodoxy and Catholicism, and gives us a common path. As a second element, let us say, tradition that interprets us, it opens the door of Scriptures to us, it also has an institutional, sacred, sacramental form, desired by the Lord, that is the episcopate, it has a personal form, that is the college of bishops which together is a witness and presence of this tradition. And the third element, the so-called Regula fidei, that is the profession of faith drawn up by the ancient councils is the sum of what is in Scripture and opens the door to interpretation Then other elements of the liturgy, our common love for Our Lady which unites us deeply, and it also becomes increasingly clear that they are the foundations of Christian life. We must be aware, and delve deeper into the details, but it seems that although different cultures, different situations have created misunderstandings and difficulties, we are growing in awareness of the essential and unity of the essential. I would add that of course it is not the theological discussion alone that creates unity. It is an important dimension, but the whole Christian life, mutual knowledge, learning despite the experiences of the past, this brotherhood are processes that also require great patience. But I think we are learning patience, so love, and with all dimensions of theological dialogue, where we are moving forward leaving it to the Lord to decide when to gift us perfect unity.


One purpose of this trip is the delivery of the working document of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East. What are your main hopes and expectations for this Synod, for the Christian communities and also for the believers of other faiths in the region?
 
The first important point is that we have a large number of bishops, church leaders here. Because we have so many churches, different rites, scattered throughout diverse countries in different situations, which often appear isolated and who often have little information about one another. Seeing each other, meeting together, and so becoming aware of the one another’s problems, differences and common situations, together forming an opinion on the situation, the path to take. The concrete communion of dialogue and life is a first point. Ultimately, it is also the visibility of these churches, so the world can see that there is a great and ancient Christianity in the Middle East, which is often not in front of our eyes and that this visibility helps us to be close to them to deepen our mutual understanding, learning from each other, to help and assist as well and for Christians in the Middle East not to lose hope to stay even if the situations can be difficult. So the third point, that in the dialogue between them they are also open to dialogue with other Christian churches, Orthodox, Armenians, etc. and there may be a growing awareness of the common Christian responsibility and also the common capacity for dialogue with their Muslim brothers, who are brothers despite their diversity . It also seems to me the encouragement to continue despite all the problems with a common vision in dialogue with them, all attempts at a more fruitful and fraternal coexistence are very important. This then is an internal meeting of Catholic Christianity in the Middle East in various rites, but also an encounter that is open, of renewed capabilities in dialogue, courage and hope for the future.