PAPAL LETTER TO ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW I

VATICAN CITY, NOV 30, 2002 (VIS) - As is customary for the November 30 feast of St. Andrew, patron of the ecumenical patriarchate of Constantinople, a delegation from the Holy See, led by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, is in Istanbul for the occasion which is celebrated on the same date in both the East and West. A delegation from the patriarchate comes to Rome each year for the June 29 feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles.

At the end of today's liturgy in St. George Church in Fanar, Cardinal Kasper presented Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I with a special Message from Pope John Paul II. The delegation, during their stay, will have talks with the patriarchate's synodal commission for relations with the Catholic Church and will meet with representatives of other Churches in Istanbul, including an encounter with the new chief rabbi. Tomorrow, first Sunday of Advent, Cardinal Kasper will preside at the Eucharistic liturgy for the Catholic community of Istanbul.

The Holy Father, in his Message in French to Patriarch Bartholomew I, wrote: "The brotherhood of the two apostles, Peter and Andrew, as well as the same and unique vocation to which they were called while they undertook their daily work, invites us to seek together, day after day, full communion so as to realize our common mission of reconciliation in God and the promotion of an authentic peaceful and Christian spirit, in a world that is overwhelmed by dramas that tear it apart and by armed conflicts."

"The fidelity to Christ of these holy brothers," he added, "calls our communities, born of the preaching of the Apostles and situated in the uninterrupted apostolic succession, to commit themselves to surmount the difficulties that still hinder Eucharistic concelebration."
"Our contacts, conversations and collaborative experiences are all oriented towards one goal: unity, the essential condition indicated by Christ that must mark relations between His disciples. For its part, the Catholic Church is engaged with conviction in this process."

John Paul II suggested that it would be good "to find more frequent forms of communication and regular exchanges. ... How can we not evoke, in this context, the concern that I take very much to heart, and which Your Holiness shares with me, for finding a way to restart the theological dialogue for a new phase, after the uncertainties, difficulties and wavering of the last decade?"

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