Today, Pope Benedict met with the patriarch of the Cypriot Orthodox Church. From the WaPo:
The two men said they had considered the "tensions and divisions" in Cyprus and the conflict in the Middle East, "where war and conflict among peoples risk widening with disastrous consequences."
"Our Churches intend to play a role of pacification, justice and solidarity" in the Middle East, they said. "It is our desire to promote … a sincere dialogue among the diverse religions present and operating in the region."
Pope Benedict told Chrysostomos at a ceremony that his visit was a "very useful initiative to make us progress toward the unity desired by Christ."
The Western and Eastern branches of Christianity have been split since the Great Schism of 1054.
Despite "centuries old divisions, diverging roads and … the hard work of closing painful wounds, the Lord has never ceased to guide our steps on the path toward unity and reconciliation," the Pope said.
At a later Rome news conference, Chrysostomos said he would travel to Moscow to meet Alexiy on July 13.
He repeated his willingness to try to forge a meeting but also said the Pope had given him no message to pass on to Alexiy and had not asked him to play any role as an intermediary.
Chrysostomos called on the European Union to lodge a formal complaint against Turkey to halt the destruction of Orthodox churches in the Turkish part of Cyprus.
"Even today, the Church should be vigilant in keeping the People of God on guard against false prophets, errors and superficial propositions not in conformity with the teaching of the Divine Master, our only Savior," Pope Benedict affirmed in addressing the Orthodox patriarch of Cyprus, Chrysostomos II, at the Vatican today.
The Pope underscored the need for a common commitment of the churches for the proclamation of the Gospel, "especially to the new generations, (who are) strongly influenced by currents of thought that are contrary to the spirit of the Gospel."
"It is urgent to find a new language to proclaim the faith we hold in common, a shared language, a spiritual language capable of faithfully transmitting revealed truths, thus helping us to reconstruct, in truth and in charity, the communion among all the members of the one Body of Christ."
According to the Pope, "This need – of which we are all aware – urges us to proceed without being discouraged with the theological dialog between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches as a whole….Adherence to this quest for unity among the Christian churches (cannot be) proclaimed only in words nor in a formal manner."
The Pope paid tribute to the ancient and venerated Church of Cyprus, rich with saints, among whom "I am happy to recall in particular, Barnabas, companion and collaborator of the Apostle Paul, and Epiphanius, Bishop of Costanza, once-called Salamina, now Famagusta."
Epiphanius, the Pope recalled, showed his flock "the truths to believe, the way to follow, and the obstacles to avoid."
The pope pointed out that the ‘challenges and problems’ faced by the Church today are not dissimilar to those that Epiphanius faced.
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