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You are here : Home News Pope's role is key to ecumenical progress, Pope tells Orthodox delegation

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Pope's role is key to ecumenical progress, Pope tells Orthodox delegation

CWNews.com - Pope Benedict XVI met on June 27 with a delegation of Orthodox prelates representing the Patriarch of Constantinople, and renewed his pledge that the Catholic Church would do everything possible to restore full communion among Christians. He remarked that the Orthodox, like Catholics, revere Sts. Peter and Paul, and suggested that "the common veneration of these martyrs be a pledge of our commitment to full communion." Pope Benedict alluded to the work of a joint Catholic-Orthodox theological commission, noting that their discussions necessarily focus on the role of the Bishop of Rome: a key to understanding the path to Christian unity.

The Orthodox prelates were in Rome to join with the Roman Pontiff in celebrations for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, the patrons of the Rome diocese. They had arrived a day early so that they could also participate in ceremonies on June 28 for the closing of the Pauline Year. The Ecumenical Patriarchate has made it an annual event to send a high-level delegation to Rome for the patronal feast-- and in turn the Holy See sends important Vatican officials to Istanbul in November to join the Orthodox Patriarch in celebrating the feast of St. Andrew, the patron of the Constantinople see.

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Happy New Year!

O Lord, Maker of the Universe, who alone has power over the seasons and times, bless this year with your bounty. Preserve our country in safety. Keep your people in peace. Through the prayers of the Mother of God, save us.
Troparion September 1st, the beginning of the Liturgical Year.

Wisdom from the Church Fathers

"And when his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. And for three days he could not see." (Acts 9:9)

By no means would he [Saul] have been able to see well again unless he had first been fully blinded. Also, when he had rejected his own wisdom, which was confusing him, he could commit himself totally to faith. Since he had not believed that the Lord had conquered death by rising on the third day, he was now taught by his own experience of the replacement of three days of darkness by the return of the light.

Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles from the Venerable Bede
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