Churches praise Benedict XVI for fostering ecumenism
World Council of Churches, Council of the Evangelical Church of Germany, Greek Orthodox Church commend the late pope emeritus for his quest for Christian unity
By Ivan Fernandes | LA CROIX INTERNATIONAL | January 3, 2023
Churches have praised Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI for his significant contribution and committed to ecumenical dialogue and Church unity.
"He was the first pope to have come from a country, Germany, with a roughly equal balance between Protestants and Catholics, and one that had been at the very center of the 16th century Reformation" said Reverend Ioan Sauca, the acting general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC).He recalled that Benedict was also the first pope to have belonged to a committee of the World Council of Churches as one of the Catholic members of its Faith and Order Commission and that within a short time of becoming pope, longstanding grievances that had prevented meetings of the Catholic-Orthodox dialogue commission were swept aside.
By 2007, the commission had drawn up the "Ravenna Declaration" as a first step towards overcoming the thousand-year disagreement on the role of the papacy, Sauca said, adding that several key individuals in this process had all been members of the WCC's Faith and Order Commission.
"He demonstrated courage as much in his leadership, his writings, and his pronouncements. In the one ecumenical movement he constantly affirmed as irreversible the deep involvement of the Roman Catholic Church in ecumenism, especially in responding to the challenging issues for the church in the world," said Sauca.
WCC's "profound thanks" for Benedict's ministry
When Benedict resigned in 2013, the then WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit expressed "profound thanks" for the late pope's ministry and witness.
"On the occasion of your resignation from the Apostolic See of Rome and the Petrine ministry, we in the ecumenical movement pause to recall your many contributions to the life of the Church and the world, and to wish you well as your ministry of prayer and meditation continues," said Tveit. "In looking from an ecumenical perspective over your entire service to the church, the World Council of Churches is grateful for your devotion to the quest for Christian unity as a pattern for the unity of all humanity," he added.
Council of the Evangelical Church of Germany
The Council of the Evangelical Church of Germany (EKD) also praised the late pope emeritus' theological acumen and contribution to ecumenical dialogue. "Joseph Ratzinger has provided theological contributions with great insight and intellectual synthesis that have impressed Christianity in general and the public far beyond the Catholic Church", said Annette Kurschus, the Lutheran theologian in a reflection published on the EKD's website. "At the same time, they have given guidance to many people".
Kurschus recalled Benedict XVI's speech during his visit to Germany in 2011 when he said: The most important thing for ecumenism is not to lose sight of the great things in common that make us Christians in the first place. This is a central ecumenical task in which we must help each other: to believe more deeply and more vividly". Kurschus said the EKD is "still grateful for this emphasis to this day".
Patriarch Bartholomew
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, also expressed "respect, love and gratitude" for Benedict XVI and his commitment to Christian unity. The spiritual leader of some 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide recalled the Common Declaration they signed in Istanbul, during Benedict's apostolic journey to Turkey in 2006, and which marked a historic step forward in Catholic-Orthodox relations primarily because Benedict was a distinguished theologian whose deep knowledge of Orthodox theology was very much appreciated in the Orthodox world.
Source: Churches praise Benedict XVI for fostering ecumenism | By Ivan Fernandes | LA CROIX INTERNATIONAL | January 3, 2023
Read more: The Ecumenical Legacy of Pope Benedict | WCC
Chaldean Patriarch: "Eastern Churches need a breath of fresh air"
"Authentic communion consists in accepting differences and respecting them through mutual humility and fraternal encounter," says Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako
By Ivan Fernandes | LA CROIX INTERNATIONAL | January 17, 2023
The Chaldean Catholic patriarch, in a message ahead of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, has called for the "unity of the baptized", lamenting that that the Eastern Catholic Churches have not benefited much from the work of the Second Vatican Council.
Iraqi Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, primate of the Chaldean Church, in his message entitled "The Eastern Churches need a breath of fresh air" has strongly appealed for Christians in the Middle East to come together and form a fraternal community in order to maintain the Christian presence in the region where Jesus was born, died, and rose from the dead.
Cardinal Sako said he realizes that Christian communities in the region are adversely affected by the society in which they reside. The laws governing social coexistence in Middle Eastern nations, which are predominantly Muslim, appear to be based on religious doctrines and laws at odds with modernity and that, because of this, Christians in the Middle East succumb to rivalry between various church traditions, church affiliations and ethnic-national identities.
"The Eastern Catholic Churches have not benefited much from the work of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council nor from the Synod for the East in 2010", he said, Fides reported, stressing that the issue of unity must be both urgent and a priority. "Our strength lies in our harmonious unity, which is a guarantee of our survival and our continuity in spreading our message," Cardinal Sako said.
Faith in Christ must show ways of unity
The commitment to the same faith in Christ must show ways of unity and help to overcome divisions and distrust, he said. "In division there is no future for us, in unity and marching together the guarantee of our survival," the Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon wrote for the January 18-25 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, urging the heads of Churches to overcome petty differences and fear and to be "creative" in defending the Christian presence in the region.
"The unity of the baptized does not mean wiping out the richness of the diverse theological, liturgical and spiritual traditions of the various ecclesial communities. Authentic communion consists in accepting differences and respecting them through mutual humility and fraternal encounter," according to the cardinal, who added that the Common Christological Declarations, signed by most of the heads of the Eastern Churches, must not be dismissed as a mere gesture of courtesy.
"Let us reconcile and unite so that the original inhabitants will not be emptied out of the land of our ancestors, the land of history and thousands of martyrs. Our Churches bear in their bodies the pain of Christ, so let us strive for their revival as he did, and for the renaissance of our countries as well," he said.
"Give consolation and refreshment"
The head of the Chaldean Catholic Church was also very critical of his priests. "In the period between Christmas and New Year, I read the letters of some priests, listened to their sermons, watched their television interviews, and I found the ideas they proposed outdated: what they said seemed to have no relation to the present reality", Cardinal Sako said. So many of their sermons and church addresses "neither touch the feelings of the recipients, nor nourish their hope, nor give consolation and refreshment," he said, warning that if this situation continues, "future generations will be without faith".
The Iraqi patriarch, who Pope Francis named a Cardinal in 2018, is a great supporter of liturgical reform in a Church that remains very clerical and attached to its age-old rites as well as its language.
Cardinal Sako has advocated the use of the Arabic language in the liturgies of the Chaldean Church, explaining it is not a betrayal of tradition but responds to the missionary vocation of announcing the salvation of Christ to the men and women of the present time.
"They need to be able to pray in their own Arabic language with a vocabulary that is no longer that of the 5th century. If not, they will join other churches," the cardinal had earlier said. The Chaldean Catholic Church uses in its liturgy the Syriac language, while Arabic has been the primary language in Iraq's history since Islam has dominated the territory's religious landscape for centuries.
An important role in the region's history
The Chaldean Catholic Church is headquartered in the Cathedral of Mary Mother of Sorrows, Baghdad, Iraq, since 1950 and has a membership of about half a million, most of whom live in the Middle East -- mainly in Iraq. About 80% of Iraqi Christians belong to this Church.
Christianity has been in Iraq from its earliest times, as the Acts of the Apostles testify. Its origins go back to the preaching of St Thomas the Apostle and his disciples Addai and Mari in the first century A.D.. Iraq is biblically and historically, an important land for all Christians who have played an important role in its history. The Iraqi Christian community is composed today of Chaldeans, Assyrians, Armenians, Latins, Melkites, Orthodox and Protestants.
There are fewer than one million Christians in Iraq, and they have been targeted by Muslim terrorists and criminal groups. Thousands fled due to sectarian violence. Islamic State that ruled Mosul from 2014 to 2016, damaged or destroyed every church in the city. Now various militias, often linked to foreign powers, have taken over much of the area.
Source: Chaldean Patriarch: "Eastern Churches need a breath of fresh air" | By Ivan Fernandes | LA CROIX INTERNATIONAL | January 17, 2023
