Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna, paid a visit to the city’s St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox cathedral, on the occasion of the Orthodox Christmas celebrated according to the Julian calendar on 7 January. He was received by bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria, representative of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European institutions. The cardinal participated in the liturgy, and at the moment of peace the two representatives of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches embraced each other. “May this sign said the cardinal be the sign of hope”. At the end of the liturgy, Bishop Hilarion, on behalf of the whole congregation, welcomed his guest in German. “The division of our Churches replied Cardinal Schönborn is often the result of our sins. That’s why, gathered in prayer before the manger of Bethlehem, we must implore God to forgive our sins, teach us to be merciful to each other, and grant that truth and love may embrace our Churches”. On 18 January, in a pastoral letter read out in all the churches of the archdiocese of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn also appealed to the faithful to participate in the Katholikentag for the Catholics of Central Europe (MEKT), that will culminate with the “pilgrimage of the peoples” to the Marian sanctuary of Mariazell on 22 May this year. The cardinal called the meeting, in which seven countries are participating, “a unique moment of celebration and recognition of the power to forge people together” that distinguishes the Christian faith. He emphasized that, in spite of “numerous obstacles, fears and anxieties, we are united by the one faith and the one Lord”.
