POPE PLACES ROMAN CHURCH AT DISPOSITION OF PATRIARCHATE

VATICAN CITY, NOV 30, 2000 (VIS) - Made public today was Pope John Paul's annual Message to His Holiness Bartholomew I, archbishop of Constantinople and ecumenical patriarch, on the occasion of the celebrations in Fanar, Turkey, of today's feast of St. Andrew, patron of the Church of Constantinople.

Cardinal Edward Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, led the Holy See delegation to the celebrations and gave the message to Patriarch Bartholomew. A similar delegation from the Church of Constantinople attends the celebrations in the Vatican each year on the June 29 feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.

The Pope wrote that the mission common to both Churches of "transmitting to future generations and to the world the salvation brought by the One Mediator, Jesus Christ, ... charges us to embrace the cause of the reestablishment of full unity of faith and life."

He recalled that, during the Jubilee Year 2000 "after a long suspension of its work, the Mixed International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches was able to meet in Baltimore for its eighth plenary session. Such a meeting is in itself an important event and was an occasion to underline the complexity of the questions being studied; however, we must note, to our great regret, that it did not allow real progress to be made in our dialogue."

John Paul II reiterated his "resolute intention of continuing the dialogue of truth and charity" and he appealed to Catholics amd Orthodox everywhere "to intensify and affirm their fraternal relations."

"With a pure and free heart," the Message concluded, "in obedience to the will of the one Lord, we must therefore continue our sincere, fraternal and loving search for full communion. It is in this perspective that I am happy to have been able to place at the disposition of the ecumenical patriarchate the ancient and beautiful church of St. Theodore on the Palatine Hill in Rome, so that it might be used for the worship and pastoral activities of the Greek orthodox community of the city, which will have the spiritual assistance necessary for its growth and for the dialogue with all Christians living in Rome."

MESS;BARTHOLOMEW I;...;TURKEY; CASSIDY;VIS;20001130;Word: 370;