Unity call as Pope Francis holds historic talks with Russian Orthodox Patriarch
13 February 2016
From the section Latin America & Caribbean
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-35565085
http://www.911forum.org.uk/board/viewtopic.php?t=23070&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=
The two leaders exchange a joint declaration on
religious unity at Marti International airport in Havana
Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch
Kirill have called for restored Christian unity
between the two churches at historic talks in Cuba.
The meeting was the first between a Pope and a
Russian Church head since the Western and Eastern
branches of Christianity split in the 11th Century.
In a joint declaration, they also urged the world
to protect Christians from persecution in the Middle East.
The Pope has now arrived in Mexico for a five-day visit.
A crowd of 300,000 braved the cold in Mexico City
to welcome him to the country which has the
world's second largest Catholic population.
The Pope was greeted at the airport by President Enrique Pena Nieto.
'Churches ravaged'
The two-hour talks on Friday between Pope Francis
and Patriarch Kirill were held at Havana airport.
Patriarch Kirill goes on to Brazil and Paraguay.
The pair embraced and kissed each other at the start of their talks.
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Media captionPope Francis was given a sombrero as a gift.
"I'm happy to greet you, dear brother," the Russian Church leader said.
"Finally," the pontiff said.
At a news conference after the meeting, Kirill
said the discussions were "open" and "brotherly",
while Francis described them as "very sincere".
"We hope our meeting contributes to the
re-establishment of this unity wished for by
God," their joint declaration said.
The document called on the world community to
defend Christians, saying that "in many countries
of the Middle East and North Africa whole
families, villages and cities of our brothers and
sisters in Christ are being completely exterminated."
"Their churches are being barbarously ravaged and
looted, their sacred objects profaned, their monuments destroyed."
At the scene: BBC's Oleg Boldyrev
In the swirl of Vatican officials and security
dressed in black, Pope Francis was a lone figure
in white on the heated tarmac of Havana airport
as he arrived to do his part in healing one of the longest religious disputes.
Russian Patriarch Kirill had arrived shortly
before. The venue was a compromise - it would be
impossible to have the first such meeting in the
Vatican or Moscow, and Catholic Cuba is still in
the Russian sphere of influence.
Back home the Patriarch has to overcome the anger
of conservatives who still consider Catholicism a
deviation from true Christianity. Clearly, this
is a criticism he feels safe to ignore now.
Minutes later, the Pope and the black-robed
Patriarch were holding each other by the
shoulders and smiling warmly. Then the leaders of
Catholics and Russian Orthodox Christians sat
down. It was almost business as usual.
Russian state TV described the talks between the
two men as the "meeting of the millennium".
In purely symbolic terms, this is an
extraordinary moment, but it is perhaps even more
significant in terms of Church diplomacy, the BBC's Will Grant in Havana says.
Patriarch Kirill has been the head of the Russian
Orthodox Church since February 2009, while Pope
Francis took up his role in March 2013.
The Roman Catholic Church has more than a billion
members worldwide, while the Russian Orthodox Church numbers about 165 million.
The Russian Church is the largest and most
powerful in the Orthodox faith, which is made up
of a number of separate churches.
The encounter in Havana is not expected to lead
to any immediate rapprochement between the Eastern and Western Churches.
Ahead of the meeting, the foreign policy chief of
the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan
Illarion, said there were still differences
between the two churches, in particular on western Ukraine.
One particular issue is the Ukrainian Greek
Catholic Church, which follows eastern church
rites but answers to the Holy See.
The Russian Orthodox Church has considered
western Ukraine its traditional territory, resenting papal influence there.
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/02/12/joint_declaration_of_pope_francis_and_patriarch_kirill/1208117
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis and Russian
Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All
Russia met in Havana, Cuba on Friday (12 Feb) to
sign an historic joint declaration.
The official English translation of the full joint declaration is below:
Joint Declaration of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love
of God the Father and the fellowship of the holy
Spirit be with all of you” (2 Cor 13:13).
1. By God the Father’s will, from which all gifts
come, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
with the help of the Holy Spirit Consolator, we,
Pope Francis and Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and
All Russia, have met today in Havana. We give
thanks to God, glorified in the Trinity, for this
meeting, the first in history.
It is with joy that we have met like brothers in
the Christian faith who encounter one another “to
speak face to face” (2 Jn 12), from heart to
heart, to discuss the mutual relations between
the Churches, the crucial problems of our
faithful, and the outlook for the progress of human civilization.
2. Our fraternal meeting has taken place in Cuba,
at the crossroads of North and South, East and
West. It is from this island, the symbol of the
hopes of the “New World” and the dramatic events
of the history of the twentieth century, that we
address our words to all the peoples of Latin
America and of the other continents.
It is a source of joy that the Christian faith is
growing here in a dynamic way. The powerful
religious potential of Latin America, its
centuries–old Christian tradition, grounded in
the personal experience of millions of people,
are the pledge of a great future for this region.
3. By meeting far from the longstanding disputes
of the “Old World”, we experience with a
particular sense of urgency the need for the
shared labour of Catholics and Orthodox, who are
called, with gentleness and respect, to give an
explanation to the world of the hope in us (cf. 1 Pet 3:15).
4. We thank God for the gifts received from the
coming into the world of His only Son. We share
the same spiritual Tradition of the first
millennium of Christianity. The witnesses of this
Tradition are the Most Holy Mother of God, the
Virgin Mary, and the saints we venerate. Among
them are innumerable martyrs who have given
witness to their faithfulness to Christ and have
become the “seed of Christians”.
5. Notwithstanding this shared Tradition of the
first ten centuries, for nearly one thousand
years Catholics and Orthodox have been deprived
of communion in the Eucharist. We have been
divided by wounds caused by old and recent
conflicts, by differences inherited from our
ancestors, in the understanding and expression of
our faith in God, one in three Persons – Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. We are pained by the loss of
unity, the outcome of human weakness and of sin,
which has occurred despite the priestly prayer of
Christ the Saviour: “So that they may all be one,
as you, Father, are in me and I in you … so that
they may be one, as we are one” (Jn 17:21).
6. Mindful of the permanence of many obstacles,
it is our hope that our meeting may contribute to
the re–establishment of this unity willed by God,
for which Christ prayed. May our meeting inspire
Christians throughout the world to pray to the
Lord with renewed fervour for the full unity of
all His disciples. In a world which yearns not
only for our words but also for tangible
gestures, may this meeting be a sign of hope for all people of goodwill!
7. In our determination to undertake all that is
necessary to overcome the historical divergences
we have inherited, we wish to combine our efforts
to give witness to the Gospel of Christ and to
the shared heritage of the Church of the first
millennium, responding together to the challenges
of the contemporary world. Orthodox and Catholics
must learn to give unanimously witness in those
spheres in which this is possible and necessary.
Human civilization has entered into a period of
epochal change. Our Christian conscience and our
pastoral responsibility compel us not to remain
passive in the face of challenges requiring a shared response.
8. Our gaze must firstly turn to those regions of
the world where Christians are victims of
persecution. In many countries of the Middle East
and North Africa whole families, villages and
cities of our brothers and sisters in Christ are
being completely exterminated. Their churches are
being barbarously ravaged and looted, their
sacred objects profaned, their monuments
destroyed. It is with pain that we call to mind
the situation in Syria, Iraq and other countries
of the Middle East, and the massive exodus of
Christians from the land in which our faith was
first disseminated and in which they have lived
since the time of the Apostles, together with other religious communities.
9. We call upon the international community to
act urgently in order to prevent the further
expulsion of Christians from the Middle East. In
raising our voice in defence of persecuted
Christians, we wish to express our compassion for
the suffering experienced by the faithful of
other religious traditions who have also become
victims of civil war, chaos and terrorist violence.
10. Thousands of victims have already been
claimed in the violence in Syria and Iraq, which
has left many other millions without a home or
means of sustenance. We urge the international
community to seek an end to the violence and
terrorism and, at the same time, to contribute
through dialogue to a swift return to civil
peace. Large–scale humanitarian aid must be
assured to the afflicted populations and to the
many refugees seeking safety in neighbouring lands.
We call upon all those whose influence can be
brought to bear upon the destiny of those
kidnapped, including the Metropolitans of Aleppo,
Paul and John Ibrahim, who were taken in April
2013, to make every effort to ensure their prompt liberation.
11. We lift our prayers to Christ, the Saviour of
the world, asking for the return of peace in the
Middle East, “the fruit of justice” (Is 32:17),
so that fraternal co–existence among the various
populations, Churches and religions may be
strengthened, enabling refugees to return to
their homes, wounds to be healed, and the souls
of the slain innocent to rest in peace.
We address, in a fervent appeal, all the parts
that may be involved in the conflicts to
demonstrate good will and to take part in the
negotiating table. At the same time, the
international community must undertake every
possible effort to end terrorism through common,
joint and coordinated action. We call on all the
countries involved in the struggle against
terrorism to responsible and prudent action. We
exhort all Christians and all believers of God to
pray fervently to the providential Creator of the
world to protect His creation from destruction
and not permit a new world war. In order to
ensure a solid and enduring peace, specific
efforts must be undertaken to rediscover the
common values uniting us, based on the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
12. We bow before the martyrdom of those who, at
the cost of their own lives, have given witness
to the truth of the Gospel, preferring death to
the denial of Christ. We believe that these
martyrs of our times, who belong to various
Churches but who are united by their shared
suffering, are a pledge of the unity of
Christians. It is to you who suffer for Christ’s
sake that the word of the Apostle is directed:
“Beloved … rejoice to the extent that you share
in the sufferings of Christ, so that when his
glory is revealed you may also rejoice exultantly” (1 Pet 4:12–13).
13. Interreligious dialogue is indispensable in
our disturbing times. Differences in the
understanding of religious truths must not impede
people of different faiths to live in peace and
harmony. In our current context, religious
leaders have the particular responsibility to
educate their faithful in a spirit which is
respectful of the convictions of those belonging
to other religious traditions. Attempts to
justify criminal acts with religious slogans are
altogether unacceptable. No crime may be
committed in God’s name, “since God is not the
God of disorder but of peace” (1 Cor 14:33).
14. In affirming the foremost value of religious
freedom, we give thanks to God for the current
unprecedented renewal of the Christian faith in
Russia, as well as in many other countries of
Eastern Europe, formerly dominated for decades by
atheist regimes. Today, the chains of militant
atheism have been broken and in many places
Christians can now freely confess their faith.
Thousands of new churches have been built over
the last quarter of a century, as well as
hundreds of monasteries and theological
institutions. Christian communities undertake
notable works in the fields of charitable aid and
social development, providing diversified forms
of assistance to the needy. Orthodox and
Catholics often work side by side. Giving witness
to the values of the Gospel they attest to the
existence of the shared spiritual foundations of human co–existence.
15. At the same time, we are concerned about the
situation in many countries in which Christians
are increasingly confronted by restrictions to
religious freedom, to the right to witness to
one’s convictions and to live in conformity with
them. In particular, we observe that the
transformation of some countries into secularized
societies, estranged from all reference to God
and to His truth, constitutes a grave threat to
religious freedom. It is a source of concern for
us that there is a current curtailment of the
rights of Christians, if not their outright
discrimination, when certain political forces,
guided by an often very aggressive secularist
ideology, seek to relegate them to the margins of public life.
16. The process of European integration, which
began after centuries of blood–soaked conflicts,
was welcomed by many with hope, as a guarantee of
peace and security. Nonetheless, we invite
vigilance against an integration that is devoid
of respect for religious identities. While
remaining open to the contribution of other
religions to our civilization, it is our
conviction that Europe must remain faithful to
its Christian roots. We call upon Christians of
Eastern and Western Europe to unite in their
shared witness to Christ and the Gospel, so that
Europe may preserve its soul, shaped by two
thousand years of Christian tradition.
17. Our gaze is also directed to those facing
serious difficulties, who live in extreme need
and poverty while the material wealth of humanity
increases. We cannot remain indifferent to the
destinies of millions of migrants and refugees
knocking on the doors of wealthy nations. The
unrelenting consumerism of some more developed
countries is gradually depleting the resources of
our planet. The growing inequality in the
distribution of material goods increases the
feeling of the injustice of the international order that has emerged.
18. The Christian churches are called to defend
the demands of justice, the respect for peoples’
traditions, and an authentic solidarity towards
all those who suffer. We Christians cannot forget
that “God chose the foolish of the world to shame
the wise, and God chose the lowly and despised of
the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce
to nothing those who are something, that no human
being might boast before God” (1 Cor 1:27–29).
19. The family is the natural centre of human
life and society. We are concerned about the
crisis in the family in many countries. Orthodox
and Catholics share the same conception of the
family, and are called to witness that it is a
path of holiness, testifying to the faithfulness
of the spouses in their mutual interaction, to
their openness to the procreation and rearing of
their children, to solidarity between the
generations and to respect for the weakest.
20. The family is based on marriage, an act of
freely given and faithful love between a man and
a woman. It is love that seals their union and
teaches them to accept one another as a gift.
Marriage is a school of love and faithfulness. We
regret that other forms of cohabitation have been
placed on the same level as this union, while the
concept, consecrated in the biblical tradition,
of paternity and maternity as the distinct
vocation of man and woman in marriage is being
banished from the public conscience.
21. We call on all to respect the inalienable
right to life. Millions are denied the very right
to be born into the world. The blood of the
unborn cries out to God (cf. Gen 4:10).
The emergence of so-called euthanasia leads
elderly people and the disabled begin to feel
that they are a burden on their families and on society in general.
We are also concerned about the development of
biomedical reproduction technology, as the
manipulation of human life represents an attack
on the foundations of human existence, created in
the image of God. We believe that it is our duty
to recall the immutability of Christian moral
principles, based on respect for the dignity of
the individual called into being according to the Creator’s plan.
22. Today, in a particular way, we address young
Christians. You, young people, have the task of
not hiding your talent in the ground (cf. Mt
25:25), but of using all the abilities God has
given you to confirm Christ’s truth in the world,
incarnating in your own lives the evangelical
commandments of the love of God and of one’s
neighbour. Do not be afraid of going against the
current, defending God’s truth, to which
contemporary secular norms are often far from conforming.
23. God loves each of you and expects you to be
His disciples and apostles. Be the light of the
world so that those around you may see your good
deeds and glorify your heavenly Father (cf. Mt
5:14, 16). Raise your children in the Christian
faith, transmitting to them the pearl of great
price that is the faith (cf. Mt 13:46) you have
received from your parents and forbears. Remember
that “you have been purchased at a great price”
(1 Cor 6:20), at the cost of the death on the
cross of the Man–God Jesus Christ.
24. Orthodox and Catholics are united not only by
the shared Tradition of the Church of the first
millennium, but also by the mission to preach the
Gospel of Christ in the world today. This mission
entails mutual respect for members of the
Christian communities and excludes any form of proselytism.
We are not competitors but brothers, and this
concept must guide all our mutual actions as well
as those directed to the outside world. We urge
Catholics and Orthodox in all countries to learn
to live together in peace and love, and to be “in
harmony with one another” (Rm 15:5).
Consequently, it cannot be accepted that disloyal
means be used to incite believers to pass from
one Church to another, denying them their
religious freedom and their traditions. We are
called upon to put into practice the precept of
the apostle Paul: “Thus I aspire to proclaim the
gospel not where Christ has already been named,
so that I do not build on another's foundation” (Rm 15:20).
25. It is our hope that our meeting may also
contribute to reconciliation wherever tensions
exist between Greek Catholics and Orthodox. It is
today clear that the past method of “uniatism”,
understood as the union of one community to the
other, separating it from its Church, is not the
way to re–establish unity. Nonetheless, the
ecclesial communities which emerged in these
historical circumstances have the right to exist
and to undertake all that is necessary to meet
the spiritual needs of their faithful, while
seeking to live in peace with their neighbours.
Orthodox and Greek Catholics are in need of
reconciliation and of mutually acceptable forms of co–existence.
26. We deplore the hostility in Ukraine that has
already caused many victims, inflicted
innumerable wounds on peaceful inhabitants and
thrown society into a deep economic and
humanitarian crisis. We invite all the parts
involved in the conflict to prudence, to social
solidarity and to action aimed at constructing
peace. We invite our Churches in Ukraine to work
towards social harmony, to refrain from taking
part in the confrontation, and to not support any
further development of the conflict.
27. It is our hope that the schism between the
Orthodox faithful in Ukraine may be overcome
through existing canonical norms, that all the
Orthodox Christians of Ukraine may live in peace
and harmony, and that the Catholic communities in
the country may contribute to this, in such a way
that our Christian brotherhood may become increasingly evident.
28. In the contemporary world, which is both
multiform yet united by a shared destiny,
Catholics and Orthodox are called to work
together fraternally in proclaiming the Good News
of salvation, to testify together to the moral
dignity and authentic freedom of the person, “so
that the world may believe” (Jn 17:21). This
world, in which the spiritual pillars of human
existence are progressively disappearing, awaits
from us a compelling Christian witness in all
spheres of personal and social life. Much of the
future of humanity will depend on our capacity to
give shared witness to the Spirit of truth in these difficult times.
29. May our bold witness to God’s truth and to
the Good News of salvation be sustained by the
Man–God Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, who
strengthens us with the unfailing promise: “Do
not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your
Father is pleased to give you the kingdom” (Lk 12:32)!
Christ is the well–spring of joy and hope. Faith
in Him transfigures human life, fills it with
meaning. This is the conviction borne of the
experience of all those to whom Peter refers in
his words: “Once you were ‘no people’ but now you
are God’s people; you ‘had not received mercy’
but now you have received mercy” (1 Pet 2:10).
30. With grace–filled gratitude for the gift of
mutual understanding manifested during our
meeting, let us with hope turn to the Most Holy
Mother of God, invoking her with the words of
this ancient prayer: “We seek refuge under the
protection of your mercy, Holy Mother of God”.
May the Blessed Virgin Mary, through her
intercession, inspire fraternity in all those who
venerate her, so that they may be reunited, in
God’s own time, in the peace and harmony of the
one people of God, for the glory of the Most Holy and indivisible Trinity!
Francis Kirill
Bishop of Rome Patriarch of Moscow
Pope of the Catholic Church and all Russia
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Please consider seriously the reason why these elite institutions are not discussed in the mainstream press despite the immense financial and political power they wield?
There are sick and evil occultists running the Western World. They are power mad lunatics like something from a kids cartoon with their fingers on the nuclear button! Armageddon is closer than you thought. Only God can save our souls from their clutches, at least that's my considered opinion - Tony
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