Vatican, Orthodox Churches to Tackle Rift By BRIAN MURPHY, AP Religion Writer Fri May 13, 7:21 PM ET
Envoys from the Vatican and Orthodox churches plan to revive efforts to close their nearly 1,000-year-old divide and seek ways to allow a historic trip to Russia by Pope Benedict XVI, a Roman Catholic official said Friday. A visit the world's most populous Orthodox nation was a major unfulfilled goal for the late Pope John Paul II, whose outreach to Orthodox churches was a hallmark of his papacy. Russian church leaders, however, claim the Vatican is trying to expand into traditional Orthodox lands through Eastern Rite churches that follow Orthodox traditions but are loyal to the pope. A joint committee is expected to be formed within the next 12 months to "set out an agenda" on improving relations, said the Rev. Brian Farrell, head of a Vatican delegation attending a global conference on Christian cooperation and trends sponsored by the World Council of Churches at a seaside site northeast of Athens. Farrell, a member of a Vatican council on Christian unity, told The Associated Press that talks with Russian delegates during the conference suggest that proposals for a papal visit could get a fresh hearing because of Benedict's background as an eminent theologian. "The Orthodox always say they that they are more comfortable speaking on a theological level about our differences and what we have in common," said Farrell. "Pope Benedict is someone they can understand." John Paul drew criticism from some conservative Orthodox for his high-profile style and travels into the Orthodox heartland. He visited some predominantly Orthodox nations — including Greece in 2001 — and built close ties with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the "first among equals" of the spiritual leaders for the world's 200 million Orthodox. Benedict has expressed a desire to continue dialogue with Orthodox churches. He also met with Metropolitan Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church's Foreign Relations Department, who attended the papal installation Mass last month. But the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexy II, only hinted that he could consider removing his opposition to a papal visit. "There cannot be a visit for the sake of a visit. There cannot be a meeting purely for television cameras. ... The future will show," the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying last month. Rifts between the two ancient branches of Christianity began as early as the fifth century over the rising influence of the papacy and later over wording of the creed, or confession of faith. The split was sealed in 1054 with an exchange of anathemas — or damnations — between the Vatican and the patriarch of Constantinople, now Istanbul, Turkey, and still the spiritual center of Orthodoxy. The collapse of the Soviet Bloc added to the tensions as both Roman Catholics and Orthodox churches tried to reassert their spiritual roles across Eastern Europe and elsewhere. But Farrell expressed optimism that the new papacy could widen the common ground between Orthodox and the world's 1.1 billion Catholics. "We definitely feel — I think on both sides — that we are at a point where we can begin to build a much more positive relationship," Farrell said at the conference, which brought together more than 700 Christian leaders, theologians and others. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl =story&u=/ap/20050513/ap_on_re_eu/greece_vatican_orthodox Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BalkanNews/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
