Fr Lombardi Editorial: Music and dialogue

(22 May 10 – RV) In his weekly editorial, Fr Federico Lombardi reflects on Catholic Orthodox relations in light of the recent Days of Russian Spirituality and Culture in the Vatican:

Music and dialogue

Days ago we witnessed an important step in relations between the Catholic Church and Russian Orthodox Church. The concert held in Paul VI Hall, offered by Patriarch Kirill to the Holy Father and preceded by a warm message from the Patriarch to the Pope, read by Metropolitan Hilarion, went far beyond normal courtesy.
In fact, it is very clear that in the context of the European cultural landscape of today, Catholics and Orthodox have shared views on the major ethical problems because they are derived from a vision of man that is inspired by Christianity. Metropolitan Hilarion, in his address, referred explicitly, for example, to issues relating to life and family. The Pope’s concluding speech was more wide-ranging and challenging than his usual end-of-concert addresses. He amply developed on the theme of Europe’s Christian roots, expressed not only in religious life, but also in the “invaluable cultural and artistic heritage" of countries where the Christian faith fostered and promoted “creativity and genius as never before". In the face of secularization that pushes us to have nothing to do with God and his project, a secularisation which "ends up denying human dignity itself", a "new humanism" needs to be proposed and developed, so Europe can return to breathe dialogue and synergy between East and West, between tradition and modernity “with both lungs". The resounding notes of the great Russian music in the Vatican was an eloquent sign of the deep harmony that has been established between the Russian Orthodox Church and Catholic Church on these crucial perspectives on. A very encouraging sign for the future.