Sandro Magister offers analysis of an interview with Cardinal Kasper in "L'Osservatore Romano" on November 15 in which the cardinal discusses Anglicans heading to Rome and the reaction of the Orthodox. In Cyprus, the news that the Catholic Church is ready to incorporate groups coming from Anglicanism also put the Orthodox on alert. Their fear is that a "Uniate" Church of the Anglican rite will be established and added to the "Uniate" Churches of the various Eastern rites: these are Churches obedient to the pope of Rome but in everything else the equals and rivals of the Orthodox. [ ... ] "In Cyprus, in order to avoid misunderstandings, I immediately told our Orthodox counterparts that this is not a matter of proselytism or a new Uniatism. [...] Uniatism is an historical phenomenon involving the Eastern Churches, while the Anglicans are from the Latin tradition. The Balamand document of 1993 is still valid, according to which this is a phenomenon of the past that took place in … [Read more...]
‘little steps forward in the right direction’
From the Zenit news service story, With Orthodox: "Little Steps, the Right Direction." The Vatican's official for promoting Christian unity has characterized the most recent session of dialogue with the Orthodox as "little steps forward in the right direction." This was the estimation given by Cardinal Walter Kasper to Vatican Radio today as he evaluated the 11th plenary session of the International Mixed Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. The weeklong session ended Oct. 23 in Paphos. Cardinal Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said the steps forward are "small and slow," precisely because the topic under discussion is "very complex -- a theme that has carried an emotional weight for many centuries." The commission was discussing "The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium." "What is important, nevertheless," the cardinal continued, … [Read more...]
Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue off to rocky start on Cyprus
.From the Sunday Mail (Cyprus): Members of Orthodox Christian unions along with clerics and monks yesterday disrupted a Paphos conference between Orthodox and Catholic Christians. The unions, monks from Stavrovouni monastery and Larnaca clerics were protesting against the conference and demanding that Archbichop Chrysostomos II cancel it. It was day one of the conference of the Joint Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. The protesters claimed the dialogue between the two churches aimed in the submission of the Orthodox Church to the Pope. AsiaNews, picking up on an interview Metropolitan John of Pergamon held with a Cypriot journalist, said the metropolitan wanted to send a message to "certain areas" of the Orthodox Church that are suffering from "a traditionalist narcissism bordering on infallibility." ... Zizoulas immediately clarifies that "the decision to participate in dialogue with the Catholic … [Read more...]