A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 24 - Tuesday, June 15th, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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Stymied in Ukraine (Religion News Service) - Pope John Paul II said Thursday that Orthodox opposition makes it impossible for him to establish a patriarchate for the 4.5 million Ukrainian Catholics who celebrate the Byzantine Rite. Addressing the members of the Permanent Synod of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, the pope praised the church for its "heroic witness" under communism and said he supported its aspiration to have "a full juridical-ecclesial configuration." He indicated that he would bow, at least for now, to the strong opposition of the Russian and other Orthodox churches to a Ukrainian patriarchate. Bartholomew I, ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople and spiritual leader of all Orthodox Christians, warned in a letter to the pope several months ago that the creation of a Ukrainian Catholic patriarchate could mean the end of Catholic-Orthodox dialogue. The warning carried extra weight because Bartholomew normally has cordial relations with John Paul and will lead an Orthodox delegation to celebrations of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul in Rome on June 29.
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexey II has
repeatedly cited property disputes and alleged
Catholic proselytizing as the major impediments to
a papal visit to Moscow. The visit has been a goal
for John Paul because it would mark important
progress in efforts to heal the 1,000-year-old
schism between the Orthodox and Catholic churches. |
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