Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Community of Evangelical Churches in Europe (GEKE), Vienna (Austria) 8-9 February 2013
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Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity N. 141 (2013/I) N. 141 (2013/I) TABLE OF CONTENTS INAUGURATION OF THE PONTIFICATE OF POPE FRANCIS, 13 March 2013 Ceremony of Inauguration of the Pontificate, 19 March 2013 ................................................ 3 POPE FRANCIS AND ECUMENISM ...................................................................................................... 6 VISIT TO ROME OF HIS HOLINESS TAWADROS II, POPE OF ALEXANDRIA AND PATRIARCH OF THE SEE OF ST MARK, 9 -13 May 2013 Meeting with Pope Francis, 10 May 2013.................................................................................... 8 VISIT TO ROME OF HIS GRACE JUSTIN WELBY, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY Meeting with Pope Francis, 14 June 2013 ................................................................................ 11 VISIT TO ROME OF A DELEGATION FROM THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF STS PETER AND PAUL, 27 – 29 June 2013 .................................. 13 CELEBRATION OF THE WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY IN ROME, 18-25 January 2013 ...................................................................................................................... 17 ECUMENICAL NEWS In Memoriam: Brother Jeffrey Gros, FSC (1938-2013) ......................................................... 20 International Joint Commission for Theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, Rome (Italy) 23-27 January 2013 ................................................................................................ 20 Dialogue between the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Community of Evangelical Churches in Europe (GEKE), Vienna (Austria) 8-9 February 2013 .......................................................................................... 23 International Reformed – Catholic Dialogue, Indiana (USA) 7-13 April 2013 .................. 23 Communiqué for the Anglican – Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC III), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) 29 April – 7 May 2013 ......................... 24 COMMISSION FOR RELIGIOUS RELATIONS WITH THE JEWS ...................................................... 26 DOCUMENTATION SUPPLEMENT “The Presence of Christ in the Church, with special reference to the Eucharist” Fourth Agreed Statement of the Disciples of Christ-Roman Catholic International Commission for Dialogue, 2003-2009 28 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2014 ....................................................................................... 56 Letter from the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity ...................................... 56 Materials for the Week of Prayer ................................................................................................ 57 OFFICE: Via della Conciliazione 5 – 00193 Rome (Italy) Tel: +39–06–13568 (Editorial Office) Fax: +39–06–698 85365 – Email: [email protected] EDITOR Fr. Hyacinthe Destivelle, OP ADDRESS FOR ALL CORRESPONDENCE Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity VA – 00120 Vatican City The material in this Information Service is not copyright, but we would appreciate a copy of any publication which includes extensive quotation from it. 2 INAUGURATION OF THE PONTIFICATE OF POPE FRANCIS CEREMONY OF INAUGURATION OF THE PONTIFICATE MEETING WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF CHURCHES AND ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES AND OF DIFFERENT 19 March 2013 RELIGIONS Pope Francis began his Petrine Ministry as Successor of the Apostle Peter with Mass celebrated in St Peter’s Square on 20 March 2013 Tuesday morning 19 March, the Solemnity of St Joseph, with the participation of representatives of Churches and Ecclesial The day after the ceremony of Inauguration, Pope Francis Communities and of other religious traditions. In his homily, the met the representatives of Churches and Ecclesial Communities Holy Father spoke of the ‘power conferred on the Successor of and of other religious traditions in the Clementine Hall. Peter’. The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew represented the The following are excerpts of the English text of the Pope’s various Christian communities in a special address to the Pope. The Patriarch’s attendance at the papal inaugural mass was a Homily which was given in Italian. historic initiative in as much as it was the first time in history that an Ecumenical Patriarch was personally present at papal POPE FRANCIS HOMILY installation. Dear Brothers and Sisters, We publish here below the text of the Patriarch’s address, followed by the Holy Father’s greeting. I thank the Lord that I can celebrate this Holy Mass for the inauguration of my Petrine ministry on the ADDRESS OF THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH solemnity of Saint Joseph, the spouse of the Virgin BARTHOLOMEW I Mary and the patron of the universal Church. It is a significant coincidence, and it is also the name-day of Your Holiness, my venerable predecessor: we are close to him with our prayers, full of affection and gratitude. In the name of the Lord of powers, we I offer a warm greeting to my brother cardinals and wholeheartedly congratulate You on the inspired bishops, the priests, deacons, men and women election and deserved assumption of Your new high religious, and all the lay faithful. I thank the duties as First Bishop of the venerable Church of representatives of the other Churches and ecclesial Senior Rome, defined by the primacy of love. Communities, as well as the representatives of the On this Throne, You succeed Pope Benedict XVI, Jewish community and the other religious who boldly retired for reasons of health and fatigue, a communities, for their presence. […] man distinguished for his meekness, theology and love. Today, together with the feast of Saint Joseph, we The task and responsibility before You are immense are celebrating the beginning of the ministry of the new before both God and humankind. The unity of the Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter, which also Christian Churches is surely our foremost concern as involves a certain power. Certainly, Jesus Christ one of the fundamental prerequisites for the credibility conferred power upon Peter, but what sort of power of our Christian witness in the eyes of those near and was it? Jesus’ three questions to Peter about love are afar. In order to achieve this unity, we must continue followed by three commands: feed my lambs, feed my the inaugurated theological dialogue so that we may sheep. Let us never forget that authentic power is jointly appreciate and approach the truth of faith, the service, and that the Pope too, when exercising power, experience of the saints, and the tradition of the first must enter ever more fully into that service which has Christian millennium shared by East and West alike. It its radiant culmination on the Cross. He must be should be a dialogue of love and truth, in a spirit of inspired by the lowly, concrete and faithful service humility, meekness, and honesty. which marked Saint Joseph and, like him, he must open After all, the global economic crisis urgently his arms to protect all of God’s people and embrace mandates the coordination of our humanitarian action, with tender affection the whole of humanity, especially in which You are well experienced as a result of Your the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those long and fruitful ministry as a Good Samaritan in Latin whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the America, where You pastorally witnessed – like so few hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and others – the bitterness of human pain and suffering. those in prison (cf. Mt. 25:31-46). Only those who Those who “have” must be motivated to offer – serve with love are able to protect! […] willingly and gladly – to those who “have not.” In this ORE, 20 March 2013 way, peace will be secured through justice as the sole universal request and the basic expectation of all * Sources of the texts are designated as follows: OR: L’Osservatore Romano, nations. We must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, daily edition in Italian; ORE: L’Osservatore Romano, weekly edition in English. treat the suffering, and generally care for the needy so If texts come from sources other than L’Osservatore Romano, this will be noted. When translation is made by the Information Service it is indicated that we may hear from our Lord: “Come, O blessed of by the abbreviation: IS. 3 my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you” (Mt. GREETING OF POPE FRANCIS 25.34). Dear Brothers and Sisters, The selection by Your beloved and esteemed Holiness of a lifestyle of simplicity has highlighted – Before all else, I express my heartfelt thanks for and will continue to highlight – your priority for what what my brother Andrew has said to us. Many thanks! is essential. This fills the hearts of everyone – Your Many thanks! faithful and all people in general – with a sense of It is a source of particular joy for me to meet today hope. It is the hope that this priority will be applied with you, the delegates of the Orthodox Churches, of broadly so that judgment and mercy, as “the essence of the Oriental Orthodox Churches and of the Ecclesial law” (Mt. 23, 23), may prevail in the Church. Communities of the West. I thank you for taking part Throughout the two-thousand-year history of the in the celebration which marked the beginning of my Church of Christ, certain truths of the sacred Gospel ministry as the Bishop of Rome and the Successor of were misinterpreted by some Christian groups, Peter. resulting in secular misconceptions that have Yesterday