THE POPE CALLS FOR THE FULL COMMUNION OF ALL BELIEVERS

VATICAN CITY, MAY 9, 1999 (VIS) - At 9 a.m. the Pope held a meeting with the prime minister of Romania, Radu Vasile, in the apostolic nunciature of Bucharest. Immediately afterwards he travelled to Unirii Square (The Square of Revolution and Liberty) which, until the 19th century, was the political and religious center of the capital. There he participated in the divine liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, celebrated by His Beatitude the Patriarch Teoctist and members of the Holy Synod.

The celebration of the Orthodox liturgy comprises three parts: The proskomide, during which the gifts brought by the faithful are prepared at the proskomide table (to the left of the altar), the liturgy of the Catechumens which begins with the great blessing and continues with the great litany, and the liturgy of the faithful or Eucharist.

Prior to the final blessing, imparted by the Patriarch and the Pontiff, and the Regina Coeli prayer, the Holy Father spoke:

"I give thanks to God for the faith and hope that have been demonstrated on Romanian soil by the members of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches during the whole of this difficult century. Thanks to them persecution and suffering have been converted into precious opportunities for sanctification and evangelization in this region."

John Paul II exclaimed: "May one single hymn of praise to the Name of the Lord well up from the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. May this form a symphony of voices expressing the cordial fraternity of their mutual relations and appealing for the full communion of all believers."

After mentioning the dialogue between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches as a whole, he said that his thoughts went to the "respectful pastoral collaboration between Orthodox and Catholic faithful, which is growing at various levels and also producing promising fruit amongst the young, as well as to efforts to produce an interdenominational translation of the Bible."
The Pope underlined the importance of the Jubilee, both for Christians and for the whole world, and made clear his desire that "the third Christian millennium find us, if not all united, at least closer to full communion."

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