Vatican City, 30 November 2014 (VIS) –
Pope Francis' final day in Turkey began with a meeting, early in the
morning at the Pontifical Representation in Istanbul, of the Chief
Rabbi of Turkey, Ishak Haleva. The Jewish community in Turkey,
consisting of around 25 thousand people, is numerically the second
largest in an Islamic country, following that of Iran. The most
substantial Jewish settlement in Turkey dates from the period of the
Spanish Inquisition (1492). At the beginning of the nineteenth
century there were around 100 thousand, but this figure dropped
drastically as a result of emigration to America and Israel. Pope
Benedict XVI also met with the Chief Rabbi during his trip to Turkey
in 2006.
Following the celebration and after
listening to the Patriarch's words, the Pope addressed those present,
recalling how as Archbishop of Buenos Aires he had frequently
participated in the Divine Liturgy of the city's Orthodox
communities, but “today, the Lord has given me the singular grace
to be present in this Patriarchal Church of Saint George for the
celebration of the Feast of the holy Apostle Andrew, the
first-called, the brother of Saint Peter, and the Patron Saint of the
Ecumenical Patriarchate”.
He continued, “Meeting each other,
seeing each other face to face, exchanging the embrace of peace, and
praying for each other, are all essential aspects of our journey
towards the restoration of full communion. All of this precedes and
always accompanies that other essential aspect of this journey,
namely, theological dialogue. An authentic dialogue is, in every
case, an encounter between persons with a name, a face, a past, and
not merely a meeting of ideas.
“This is especially true for us
Christians, because for us the truth is the person of Jesus Christ”,
observed the Pontiff. “The example of Saint Andrew, who with
another disciple accepted the invitation of the Divine Master, 'Come
and see', and 'stayed with him that day', shows us plainly that the
Christian life is a personal experience, a transforming encounter
with the One who loves us and who wants to save us. In addition, the
Christian message is spread thanks to men and women who are in love
with Christ, and cannot help but pass on the joy of being loved and
saved. Here again, the example of the apostle Andrew is instructive.
After following Jesus to his home and spending time with Him, Andrew
'first found his brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the
Messiah” (meaning Christ). He brought him to Jesus'. It is clear,
therefore, that not even dialogue among Christians can prescind from
this logic of personal encounter”.
Therefore, “it is not by chance that
the path of reconciliation and peace between Catholics and Orthodox
was, in some way, ushered in by an encounter, by an embrace between
our venerable predecessors, Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras and Pope
Paul VI, which took place fifty years ago in Jerusalem. Your Holiness
and I wished to commemorate that moment when we met recently in the
same city where our Lord Jesus Christ died and rose.
“By happy coincidence, my visit falls
a few days after the fiftieth anniversary of the promulgation of
Unitatis Redintegratio, the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on
Christian Unity. This is a fundamental document which opened new
avenues for encounter between Catholics and their brothers and
sisters of other Churches and ecclesial communities. In particular,
in that Decree the Catholic Church acknowledges that the Orthodox
Churches 'possess true sacraments, above all – by apostolic
succession – the priesthood and the Eucharist, whereby they are
still joined to us in closest intimacy'. The Decree goes on to state
that in order to guard faithfully the fullness of the Christian
tradition and to bring to fulfilment the reconciliation of Eastern
and Western Christians, it is of the greatest importance to preserve
and support the rich patrimony of the Eastern Churches. This regards
not only their liturgical and spiritual traditions, but also their
canonical disciplines, sanctioned as they are by the Fathers and by
Councils, which regulate the lives of these Churches”.
The Pope emphasised the importance of
reaffirming respect for this principle “as an essential condition,
accepted by both, for the restoration of full communion, which does
not signify the submission of one to the other, or assimilation.
Rather, it means welcoming all the gifts that God has given to each,
thus demonstrating to the entire world the great mystery of salvation
accomplished by Christ the Lord through the Holy Spirit. I want to
assure each one of you here that, to reach the desired goal of full
unity, the Catholic Church does not intend to impose any conditions
except that of the shared profession of faith. Further, I would add
that we are ready to seek together, in light of Scriptural teaching
and the experience of the first millennium, the ways in which we can
guarantee the needed unity of the Church in the present
circumstances. The one thing that the Catholic Church desires, and
that I seek as Bishop of Rome, 'the Church which presides in
charity', is communion with the Orthodox Churches. Such communion
will always be the fruit of that love which 'has been poured into our
hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us', a fraternal
love which expresses the spiritual and transcendent bond which unites
us as disciples of the Lord”.
In today’s world, “voices are being
raised which we cannot ignore and which implore our Churches to live
deeply our identity as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. The first
of these voices is that of the poor. In the world, there are too many
women and men who suffer from severe malnutrition, growing
unemployment, the rising numbers of unemployed youth, and from
increasing social exclusion. These can give rise to criminal activity
and even the recruitment of terrorists. We cannot remain indifferent
before the cries of our brothers and sisters. These ask of us not
only material assistance – needed in so many circumstances – but
above all,our help to defend their dignity as human persons, so that
they can find the spiritual energy to become once again protagonists
in their own lives. They ask us to fight, in the light of the Gospel,
the structural causes of poverty: inequality, the shortage of
dignified work and housing, and the denial of their rights as members
of society and as workers. As Christians we are called together to
eliminate that globalisation of indifference which today seems to
reign supreme, while building a new civilisation of love and
solidarity”.
A second plea, he said, “comes from
the victims of the conflicts in so many parts of our world. We hear
this resoundingly here, because some neighbouring countries are
scarred by an inhumane and brutal war. I think in a particular way of
the numerous victims of the grotesque and senseless attack which
recently killed and injured so many Muslims who were praying in a
Mosque in Kano, Nigeria. Taking away the peace of a people,
committing every act of violence – or consenting to such acts –
especially when directed against the weakest and defenceless, is a
profoundly grave sin against God, since it means showing contempt for
the image of God which is in man. The cry of the victims of conflict
urges us to move with haste along the path of reconciliation and
communion between Catholics and Orthodox. Indeed, how can we credibly
proclaim the Gospel of peace which comes from Christ, if there
continues to be rivalry and disagreement between us?”
A third cry is that of young people.
“Today, tragically, there are many young men and women who live
without hope, overcome by mistrust and resignation. Many of the
young, influenced by the prevailing culture, seek happiness solely in
possessing material things and in satisfying their fleeting emotions.
New generations will never be able to acquire true wisdom and keep
hope alive unless we are able to esteem and transmit the true
humanism which comes from the Gospel and from the Church’s age-old
experience. It is precisely the young who today implore us to make
progress towards full communion. I think for example of the many
Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant youth who come together at meetings
organised by the Taize community. They do this not because they
ignore the differences which still separate us, but because they are
able to see beyond them; they are able to embrace what is essential
and what already unites us.
Pope Francis concluded by addressing
Bartholomaios I: “We are already on the way, on the path towards
full communion and already we can experience eloquent signs of an
authentic, albeit incomplete union. This offers us reassurance and
encourages us to continue on this journey. We are certain that along
this journey we are helped by the intercession of the Apostle Andrew
and his brother Peter, held by tradition to be the founders of the
Churches of Constantinople and of Rome. We ask God for the great gift
of full unity, and the ability to accept it in our lives. Let us
never forget to pray for one another”.
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