Synodality, Nicaea commemoration foster Christian unity: papal message to Ecumenical Patriarch
December 02, 2024
» Continue to this story on Vatican Press Office
CWN Editor's Note: As is customary, a Vatican delegation, led by Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, traveled to Istanbul to take part in the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s celebration on November 30 of the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, brother of St. Peter and patron saint of Constantinople.
Cardinal Koch also delivered a message from Pope Francis to the Ecumenical Patriarch, who holds a primacy of honor among the Orthodox churches.
The recently concluded synod on synodality “will certainly foster relations between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, which has always kept this constitutive ecclesial dimension alive,” Pope Francis wrote. “Listening without condemning,” which Pope Francis said characterized the synod, “should also be the manner in which Catholics and Orthodox continue their journey towards unity.”
“The now imminent 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea will be another opportunity to bear witness to the growing communion that already exists among all who are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” the Pope continued. Echoing comments made two days earlier, the Pope expressed his desire “to celebrate this event together with you, and I sincerely thank all those who have already begun working to make that possible.”
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