At part of the traditional exchange of
delegations for the respective feasts of the patron saints – on 29 in
Rome for the celebration of Saints Peter and Paul, and on 30 November in
Istanbul for the celebration of Saint Andrew – Cardinal Kurt Koch,
president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity leads
the Holy See delegation for the feast of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
The cardinal is accompanied by Bishop Brian Farrell, secretary of the
dicastery, and Msgr. Andrea Palmieri, under-secretary. In Istanbul the
delegation was joined by the apostolic nuncio to Turkey, Archbishop Paul
F. Russell. The Holy See delegation took part in the solemn divine
liturgy presided at by His Holiness Bartholomew in the patriarchal
church of Saint George in the Phanar, met with the Patriarch and
conversed with the Synodal commission responsible for relations with the
Catholic Church.
Cardinal Koch delivered to the Ecumenical Patriarch a Message written
by the Holy Father, which was read out publicly at the end of the
divine liturgy.
The following is the full text of the Message:
Message of the Holy Father
To His Holiness Bartholomew
Archbishop of Constantinople
Ecumenical Patriarch
Ecumenical Patriarch
Though away from Rome on my Pastoral Visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh,
I wish to extend my fraternal best wishes to Your Holiness and to the
members of the Holy Synod, the clergy, the monks, and all the faithful
gathered for the Divine Liturgy in the Patriarchal Church of Saint
George for the liturgical commemoration of Saint Andrew the Apostle,
brother of Simon Peter and first-called of the Apostles, the patron
saint of the Church of Constantinople and of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate. When the deacon invites those gathered during the Divine
Liturgy to pray “for those who travel by land, sea, and air”, I ask you,
please, to pray also for me.
The Delegation I have sent is a sign of my spiritual solidarity with
your prayer of thanksgiving and praise for all that our Almighty and
Merciful God has accomplished through the witness of the Apostle Andrew.
In like manner, the Delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate welcomed
in Rome last June demonstrated its spiritual closeness to us as we
celebrated the wonderful deeds that God, the source of all good,
accomplished through the Apostles Peter and Paul, patron saints of the
Church of Rome.
The Apostles proclaimed to the ends of the earth, through their words
and the sacrifice of their lives, what they themselves had seen, heard
and experienced - the Word of Life, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died and
rose for our salvation. Making our own this proclamation enables us to
enter into communion with the Father, through the Son, in the Holy
Spirit, which is the very foundation of the communion that already
unites those baptized in the name of the Most Holy Trinity (cf. 1Jn 1:1-3).
Catholics and Orthodox, by professing together the dogmas of the first
seven Ecumenical Councils, by believing in the efficacy of the Eucharist
and the other sacraments, and by preserving the apostolic succession of
the ministry of bishops, experience already a profound closeness with
one another (cf. Unitatis Redintegratio, 15). Today, in
thanksgiving to the God of love, in obedience to the will of our Lord
Jesus Christ and in fidelity to the teaching of the Apostles, we
recognize how urgent it is to grow towards full and visible communion.
It is a source of joy to learn that on the eve of the feast of Saint
Andrew, during a meeting attended by Your Holiness, the fiftieth
anniversary of the visit of Pope Paul VI to the Phanar on 25 July 1967
was commemorated. That historic moment of communion between the Pastors
of the Church of Rome and the Church of Constantinople brings to mind
the words of Patriarch Athenagoras in welcoming Pope Paul VI to the
Patriarchal Church of Saint George, where you are gathered today. I
believe that these words can continue to inspire the dialogue between
our Churches: “Let us join together what was divided, wherever this is
possible, by deeds in which both Churches are involved, giving added
strength to the matters of faith and canonical discipline which we have
in common. Let us conduct the theological dialogue according to the
principle [of] full community in the fundamentals of the faith, liberty
both in theological thought, where this is pious and edifying and
inspired by the main body of the Fathers, and in variety of local
customs, as was favoured by the Church from the beginning” (Tomos Agapis, Vatican-Phanar (1958-1970), pp. 382-383).
I offer my heartfelt gratitude to Your Holiness for the generous and
warm hospitality extended by the Metropolis of Leros of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate, under the pastoral care of His Eminence Paisios, to the
members of the Coordinating Committee of the Joint International
Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the
Orthodox Church. I wish to encourage anew this theological dialogue. The
consensus reached by Catholics and Orthodox on certain fundamental
theological principles regulating the relationship between primacy and
synodality in the life of the Church in the first millennium can serve
to evaluate, even critically, some theological categories and practices
which evolved during the second millennium in conformity with those
principles. Such consensus may enable us to envisage a common way of
understanding the exercise of the ministry of the Bishop of Rome, in the
context of synodality and at the service of the communion of the Church
in the present context. This sensitive task needs to be pursued in an
atmosphere of mutual openness and, above all, in obedience to the
demands that the Holy Spirit makes of the Church.
Your Holiness, beloved brother in Christ, in recent months I have
followed with great interest your participation in significant
international events held throughout the world regarding the care of
creation, peaceful coexistence among peoples of different cultures and
religious traditions, and the presence of Christians in the Middle East.
Your Holiness’s commitment is a source of inspiration, support and
encouragement for me personally for, as you well know, we share these
same concerns. It is my fervent hope that Catholics and Orthodox may
promote joint initiatives at the local level with regard to these
issues, for there are many contexts in which Orthodox and Catholics can
already work together without waiting for the day of full and visible
communion.
With the assurance of my continued remembrance in prayer, it is with
sentiments of warm affection that I exchange with Your Holiness a
fraternal embrace of peace.