Ecumenism Archives

Russia’s Putin says he values ‘trusting and constructive dialogue’ with Vatican

August 23, 2017

Cardinal Pietro Parolin’s visit marks the first of the Vatican’s Secretary of State to Russia in 19 years. The last to do so was Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who was in Moscow in 1999 to consecrate its Catholic cathedral. During a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, Parolin said the diplomacy between the two countries “compromises various levels and covers the political spectrum and also various cultural initiatives that we pursue.”

Patriarch Kirill and Parolin: Russian Orthodox and Catholics united for peace

During their meeting in Moscow, the Vatican Secretary of State, Italian, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill discussed the two churches mutual positions regarding the Ukraine crisis, which Kirill described as “close,” and also the plight of the populations living in the Middle East, including persecuted Christians.

Vatican article on ‘ecumenism of hate’ in U.S. was long overdue

Recently two intrepid souls, both of whom reportedly hold Pope Francis’s confidence, sought to advance a long-overdue conversation on the division of the Church in America along political lines. They’re Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro, editor–in–chief of the Jesuit publication “La Civilità Cattolica”, and Presbyterian Rev. Marcelo Figueroa, editor–in–chief of the Argentinean edition of “L’Osservatore Romano”, and whatever the gaps in details may be, the heart of their argument is long overdue.

A note on the ‘ecumenism of hate’ and papal rhetoric
- Commentary
- July 31, 2017
Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro and Reverend Marcelo Figueroa caused controversy by using the expression “ecumenism of hate” in a La Civiltà Cattolica article to describe the relations between Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States. It’s not fair to criticize Spadaro/Figueroa for inflammatory rhetoric without conceding that it is of a piece with the pontifical style which they are proposing as a model for Christian engagement. And it would be dismissive to consider that style to be just loose talk, without a pastoral purpose.
READ MORE
Russian visit of Santa Claus relics a milestone in ‘People’s Ecumenism’
- Global Church
- July 28, 2017
‘Santa Clause is coming to town’ and Italians can’t wait, as a relic of the gift-giving saint returns from its two month stay in Russia back to the southern Italian city of Bari. Thousands of Russian Orthodox queued to see the relics in Moscow, in what has become an historic ecumenical milestone for Catholic-Orthodox relations.
READ MORE
Reformed churches endorse Catholic-Lutheran accord on key Reformation dispute
- Global Church, Religion News Service
- July 9, 2017
Pope Francis, who attended an ecumenical ceremony in Sweden last October launching the Lutherans’ yearlong commemoration of the Reformation, sent a message saying he hoped this latest step would “mark a new stage of fellowship and cooperation in the service of justice and peace in our human family.”
READ MORE