Pope’s address to Catholic-Orthodox dialogue commission

(January 30, 2009) According to Pope Benedict XVI all Christians have the duty to manifest visibly the mystery of unity of the three divine Persons of the Holy Trinity by striving for reconciliation and communion among the followers of Christ. The remarks of the Pope came in his address to participants in the 6th meeting of Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches. The Jan. 25-31 meeting is discussing the Church as communion. “The very fact that the dialogue has continued over time and is hosted each year by one of the several Churches” is in itself a sign of hope and encouragement, the Pope observed. He said that we need only cast our minds to the Middle East - from where many of them came, to see that true seeds of hope are urgently needed in a world wounded by the tragedy of division, conflict and immense human suffering. The Pope pointed to St Paul as the first great champion and theologian of the Church’s unity, saying “His efforts and struggles were inspired by the enduring aspiration to maintain a visible, not merely external, but real and full communion among the Lord’s disciples. The split between Eastern Orthodoxy based in Constantinople and Rome-based western Christianity goes back to 1054, largely over differences over the primacy of the Pope of Rome. After centuries of mutual hostility and isolation between Catholics and Orthodox, relations began to warm up after Pope Paul VI and Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople met in January 1964. The following year, the two Churches simultaneously lifted the mutual excommunications that followed the great schism of 1054.