ecumenism" "
It was the Pope in person who notified the offices concerned of his own decision to remove the title of “patriarch of the West” from the list of papal titles in the Pontifical Yearbook (the Annuario Pontificio) for 2006. Though Benedict has not explained the reasons for this decision, staff at the statistics office that edits the yearbook has interpreted it as a “sign of ecumenical sensibility”. But news of the elimination of the title of Patriarch of the West published by the dean of Vatican correspondents Arcangelo Paglialunga in the Gazzettino of Venice on 19 February has aroused harsh reactions in Orthodox circles. Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria of the Patriarchate of Moscow commented adversely on the decision. “Some he writes in a comment published by the “Europaica” agency have seen this abandonment of the title of Patriarch of the West as a sign of the Pope’s desire to improve relations with the Orthodox Church. Now, the reasons why the suppression of the title of Patriarch of the West might improve the relations of the see of Rome with the Orthodox Churches remain mysterious. On the contrary, this gesture could be interpreted as a proof of the growing claims on the part of the bishop of Rome to universal primacy, well underlined by the titles he retains”. The question in fact reveals an important problem that obstructs full unity between the two Churches. “Orthodox theologians writes Bishop Hilarion consider the Latin doctrine on the universal authority of the Bishop of Rome as the principal and greatest obstacle to unity”. The problem will be on the order of the day at the next meeting of the Catholic-Orthodox international mixed Commission, due to meet after an interruption of six years in Serbia in the autumn. What the Orthodox Churches regard as “unacceptable and even scandalous” are explains Bishop Hilarion in his statement the titles that remain in the papal yearbook that “emphasize the Pope’s claim to universal jurisdiction” as “Vicar of Jesus Christ, successor of the prince of the apostles, supreme pontiff of the universal church”. The statement ends with an invitation to the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity to clarify the matter.
