| PATRIARCH KIRILL, SHARING THE POPE’S “VIEW” OF EUROPE |
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| Scritto da Oriente Cristiano |
| Mercoledì 03 Febbraio 2010 18:37 |
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“Positive trends” were recorded in the past year in the dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. It is a green light, then, for the situation that the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, Kirill I, outlined yesterday as he spoke to the Bishops Conference held at the Council Hall of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, in Moscow. It was attended by the bishops of the Orthodox Church who came to Moscow to celebrate the first anniversary of his enthronement. Patriarch Kirill submitted to the bishops a long Report on the work, visits and trips that have taken place during his first year as a leader, with a detailed section on relations with the Catholic Church. In this respect, Kirill said: “Joint activities and many meetings with the leaders of the Catholic Church confirmed that we share many positions on issues that concern Christians in the modern world. Such issues are aggressive secularisation, globalisation, the erosion of traditional ethical principles. It is worth pointing out that, on these issues, Pope Benedict XVI has taken positions that are very close to the Orthodox ones. And this is proven by his speeches, messages, as well as by the opinions of high representatives of the Roman Catholic Church with whom we have contacts”.
Patriarch Kirill commented that “a shared view of the protection of human dignity in Europe” also came to the fore during the meeting that archbishop Hilarion Volokolamsky had with the Pope and with other leaders of the Roman Curia last September. In his speech, the Patriarch also recalled the decision taken in November by the European Court for Human Rights about the unacceptability of having crucifixes displayed in the Italian schools and commented: “it was a clear attack against the Christian traditions of Europe”, and, because of this, the Russian Orthodox Church expressed its sympathy with the Catholic Church in Italy”. And he added: “We insisted that the European civilisation has Christian roots, so it is definitely unacceptable to deprive Europe and its institutions of the symbols of its spiritual identity”. In his Report, the Patriarch does not hide “the problems that exist” in bilateral relations, “which we keep working at”. And he spoke in particular of the “difficult situation of Ukraine”, hoping “effective steps” may be taken by the Catholic side. A completely different scenario is the one outlined instead for the relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Protestant Churches, and the crux lies in the “quick liberalisation of the Protestant world”. He points the finger at the blessing of same-sex unions and the episcopal election of declaredly gay bishops. These are “the reasons – said the Patriarch – why we have been forced to stop our relations with the Episcopal Church of the United States and the Lutheran Church of Sweden”. In the section about the Protestant world, the Patriarch also mentions, with regret, the election of the woman bishop Margot Kassmann as president of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany. “It ensues – Krill concluded – that, in our dialogue with our Protestant counterparts, it is important to try to consider the possibility to overcome the fundamental differences between Orthodoxy and Protestantism. If this were not possible, there are many other key issues that are not directly related with the achievement of unity in faith and in the structure of the Church, but which are important for our cooperation for peace, justice, the protection of Creation and the solution of other problems that require the joint action of people who believe in the Holy Trinity”. Then, the election of the metropolitan bishop Emmanuel (Patriarchate of Constantinople) as president of Kek sounds very promising to “overcome the problems” that the Russian Church has with this European institution. © SIR - 3 february 2010 Quote this article on your site To create link towards this article on your website, copy and paste the text below in your page. Preview :
PATRIARCH KIRILL, SHARING THE POPE’S “VIEW” OF EUROPE Mercoledì 03 Febbraio 2010 © 2010 - Oriente Cristiano Powered by QuoteThis © 2008 |
