ACHIEVE FULL COMMUNION RESPECTING DIFFERENCES

VATICAN CITY, OCT 12, 2002 (VIS) - This morning in his private library John Paul II met with His Beatitude Teoctist, the Orthodox patriarch of Romania, who has been on a visit to the Church of Rome and to the Pope since last Monday. During the meeting, they exchanged speeches and signed a joint declaration.

The Holy Father recalled the celebration of Vatican Council II, noting that the 40th anniversary of its opening was commemorated yesterday. During this event, he said, "it was inevitable to note with sorrow the division that has lasted for almost a millennium between the venerable Churches of the East and Rome." However, at the conclusion of the Council, "the reciprocal condemnations of 1054 were canceled from the Church's memory."

"Since then," he continued, "our communion, and I think I can say our friendship, has deepened thanks to a reciprocal exchange of views and of messages." In 1980, he affirmed, began "the work of an International Mixed Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church." In the documents which were later published, "our communion of faith in the mystery of the Eucharist, the Sacraments and the priesthood and episcopal ministry in apostolic succession" is demonstrated "in its amplitude."

The Pope noted that despite everything, "we cannot deny that some difficulties have arisen on our common way. ... Peace in the Church is such an important good, that everyone must be ready to make sacrifices in order to achieve it. We have full faith that you, your Beatitude, will know how to defend the cause of peace with intelligence, wisdom and love."

The Pope then asked: "What will be the next steps to finally achieve full communion?" He affirmed that "the goal is to achieve ... a unity that does not involve absorption or fusion, but one that respects the legitimate differences between the diverse traditions that make up an integral part of the Church's richness."

In this context, John Paul II then referred to "the principles of behavior that have been formulated in common texts and that, for the Catholic Church, are still valid."

Broaching the topic of proselytization and of new communities and religious movements, the Holy Father expressed his "concern" about these groups, "not historically rooted, that invade countries and regions where Church traditions are present and where the Gospel has been proclaimed for centuries."

"The Catholic Church," he continued, "recognizes the mission which the Orthodox Churches are called to fulfill in countries where they have been for centuries." As proof of that recognition he affirmed that "the Catholic Church has always tried to sustain and help the mission of the Orthodox Churches in their countries of origin as well as the pastoral activity of many communities that live in the diaspora alongside Catholic communities."
In order to continue dialogue among Catholics and Orthodox the Pope invited all "to promote exchange and personal contact among bishops, priests and lay people, among monastic centers and students of theology." He emphasized that it is necessary "to encourage all gatherings of young people" and also to "relinquish old prejudices" in order to "prepare a new future according to the teaching of reciprocal peace."

In concluding, the Pope asked if "relations are sound enough ... to give them a solid international structure to find stable forms of communication and regular and reciprocal exchanges of information" and he proposed that this question be "the object of serious reflection in the course of future dialogue" in order to "suggest constructive solutions in this way."

For his part, Patriarch Teoctist noted that, since the fall of atheistic totalitarianism, "one of the main worries of our Church is rediscovering and putting into practice in society today the Christian mission," especially vis-a-vis religious indifference, relativism and the "emergence of pseudo-values." He stressed that mission does not involve or regard "only one Christian denomination or Church, but all Christians in an equal fashion. ... If Churches were capable on more than one occasion of uniting their efforts to survive the communist period, today unity in witnessing to the Gospel of Christ becomes even more necessary."

The patriarch stated that "the contemporary spirit, marked by globalization and competition, is also seen in relations among Christians." He affirmed that "groups of self-styled evangelizers have besieged our faithful, considering these territories as spiritually 'void' or as 'mission lands' where the Gospel has not yet been proclaimed. Naturally such behavior caused us much frustration and suffering. The hope of receiving help from Churches in free countries ... was rapidly transformed into delusion, confusion, mistrust and sporadically anti-ecumenical behavior."

"However," he remarked, "we remain faithful to the ecumenical opening because common witness of Christians is not only a necessity at the current time, ... (but) it is the vocation of all Christians, a commandment that expresses the will of Christ, Head of the Church."

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