PROMOTING ECUMENISM MUST BE A CONSTANT CONCERN

VATICAN CITY, JAN 18, 2003 (VIS) - Fifteen members of the administrative council of the Catholic Committee for Cultural Collaboration were welcomed this morning by the Holy Father who expressed his appreciation for the work "of ecclesial support for the Orthodox Churches and the ancient Churches of the East" that the members of this consultative body have been undertaking for years.

He noted that their activities include "giving scholarships to Orthodox candidates presented by their own ecclesial authorities; sending books and literature, especially theological and patristic, to Orthodox seminaries and libraries; promoting special projects in these seminaries and in institutes of formation."

The Pope added that the presence of Orthodox scholarship candidates "expresses an efficacious synergy which helps activate a basic element of the ecumenical commitment: the exchange of gifts among the Churches in their complementarity."

"At the beginning of the new millennium," affirmed the Holy Father in conclusion, "in this period of transition between what has been accomplished and what we are called to accomplish in order to promote the ecumenical path up to the point of reaching full communion, we have an inescapable duty: ... That of favoring capillary reception of the results already reached in the various ecumenical initiatives, not losing the occasion to underline that promoting the ecumenical commitment must be a constant concern in the work of formation."

AC;CULTURAL EXCHANGE; ORTHODOX;...;...;VIS;20030120;Word: 230;