Pope Benedict XVI seeks better ties with Orthodox Church

(30 June 2006) : Pope Benedict said on Thursday that he hoped his visit to Turkey will help pave the way for long-sought unity between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The Pontiff told an Orthodox delegation that he wanted the two to share full communion after a nearly 1,000 year-old schism. The Orthodox Church was formed after the schism in 1054 triggered largely over the issue of the authority of the Pope. "We strongly feel the shared wish .... to drink together from the same chalice and eat from the same bread that is the Lord. We again implore, on this occasion, that such a gift be granted soon," Pope Benedict said. The Orthodox delegation attended a papal mass on Thursday, when both Churches celebrated the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, a telling sign, Benedict said, of their "ecclesial fraternity". The Pope, who will visit Turkey from Nov. 28-30, said he would be in Istanbul for St. Andrew's Day on Nov. 30, which is of special importance to the Orthodox Church. According to tradition, the apostle Andrew was the first to preach Christianity in and around what is now Istanbul in the years after the death of Jesus. As Constantinople, the city later served as the centre of eastern Christianity for centuries until it fell to the Turks in 1453, becoming in turn the capital of the Muslim Ottoman empire.