SYNOD FOR THE MIDDLE EAST: MGR. PADOVESE (TURKEY), “BRINGING” THE EUROPEAN CHURCHES “CLOSER” TO THE EASTERN ONES

“Bringing the European Churches closer to the Eastern sisters”. This is, according to mgr. Luigi Padovese, president of the Turkish Bishops Conference (Cet), one of the contributions which the Turkish Church, as well as the Cypriot Church, may be able to give at the forthcoming Episcopal Synod for the Middle East, which will take place in the Vatican from 10th to 24th October, about “The Catholic Church in the Middle East: communion and testimony”. Both members of the Council of European Bishops Conferences (Ccee), the two Churches, the prelate states in an interview with SIR Europe (read), are “a bridge between two worlds, two cultures and also between two religions”, and that’s why they “may promote a more careful, deeper attention to the Eastern Churches”.
Speaking of the Synod, the president of Cet stated that this event calls the Church of Turkey “to ecumenical dialogue and dialogue with Islam. As we live in a Muslim country, Christians need not be fragmented into many brooks but must join together into a river, highlighting the things that unite us and giving the Islamic society the idea that Christians are not divided but different. And this is an asset. Then we must dispel the impression that the Church, especially the Latin one, is doing proselytism”. “We are a presence that respects the other confessional and religious identities, and we want to be recognised as such, with all the attendant rights – adds mgr. Padovese –. We are citizens of the countries in which we live. Our strength relies not so much on our faith as on the right that every Constitution gives its citizens. In Muslim countries, where the Churches of the Middle East live, Christianity is viewed as a legitimate religion, one can be a Christian, but sometimes, in some respects, one is seen as inferior than the other people. The right to claim full citizenship, especially in Muslim countries, becomes extremely important”.

© SIR - May 26 2010