WASHINGTON (CNS) – The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America welcomed the May 25 meeting between Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Jerusalem.
Pope Francis’ May 24-26 trip to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories will commemorate the January, 1964 visit of Pope Paul VI to the Holy Land and his visit with Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople.
The 1964 meeting was a joyful occasion “that swept aside centuries of hostility and division” and “has born good fruit,” said Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., who is USCCB president, and Greek Orthodox Archbishop Demetrios, who also is chairman of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the U.S.
In a joint statement released May 15 in Washington, D.C., the two archbishops pointed to a growing closeness between Catholic and Orthodox Christians over the last 50 years that has allowed them “to speak with one voice” on issues facing society.
“We commit ourselves to increased cooperation in these areas, including social, economic and ethical dilemmas,” they said.
With their statement, Archbishop Kurtz and Archbishop Demetrios said they reaffirmed “the dialogue of love initiated” by the 1964 meeting and would “continue to strive to remove that which separates us.”
For the Glory of God
They also called the faithful of both their churches to pray for the success of the meeting of the pope and patriarch “for the glory of God and the promotion of Christianity in our wounded world.”
The 1964 meeting was the first to take place between Latin Catholic and Orthodox leaders in almost 1,000 years.
“The pope’s gift of a chalice to the patriarch and the patriarch’s gift of an encolpion – an episcopal pectoral medallion with an icon of Christ – to the pope showed that they were determined to work for the victory of love over enmity, of communion over division,” the two prelates said.
As fruits of the initial Jerusalem meeting 50 years ago, Archbishop Kurtz and Archbishop Demetrios highlighted the lifting of the mutual 1054 excommunications between Rome and Constantinople in 1965; the establishment of ongoing national and international Catholic-Orthodox dialogues; and the ongoing work to remove divisions between their churches.
After 1964, pope-patriarch meetings and other contact between the two churches became more common, they said, leading to the establishment of an international theological dialogue in 1980. The dialogue between the two churches continues today.
In the U.S., Catholic and Greek Orthodox leaders set up a national theological dialogue in 1965, at the initiative of the late Archbishop Iakovos, primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in the Americas from 1959 to 1996.
According to the archbishops’ joint statement, the dialogue has continued uninterrupted since its founding. In 1997, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops joined the Catholic side. The consultation produced 30 agreed statements over the years, “carefully examining the issues that still divide us and proposing ways to resolve them.”
In Beirut, a spokesman for the Maronite Catholic Church said Cardinal Bechara Rai, Maronite patriarch, will welcome Pope Francis to the Holy Land as head of the largest Antiochian Catholic Church and will not be there “to legitimate any one’s political claims.”
Archbishop Paul Sayah, patriarchal vicar for the Maronite Catholic Church, said Jerusalem and Bethlehem, two cities Pope Francis will visit, are part of the Church’s territory, since Maronite Catholics live there.
“Patriarch Rai is not accompanying and he is not a member of [Pope Francis’] official delegation, and he will not be with the pope on the official ceremonies within the Israeli areas because there his visit is totally pastoral and has another dimension, considering the political situation between Lebanon and Israel,” said Archbishop Sayah, who spent 16 years as archbishop of Haifa, Israel, and patriarchal vicar in Jerusalem, Jordan and the Palestinian territories.
The archbishop said Cardinal Rai had received an official invitation from Palestinian authorities, and Lebanon and Palestine have diplomatic relations.