Benedict’s thread

The pledge to spare no effort in promoting ecumenism that Benedict XVI announced on the day of his election from the balcony of St. Peter’s basilica had borne substantial fruits by the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, presided over by the Pope himself in Rome on 25 January.The many ecumenical events that succeeded each other during 2006, and that were presented in an affectionate review in the general audience of Wednesday 24 January, are woven together in the manner of oriental carpets creating the beauty of diversity that makes more joyful the road towards the goal yearned for and invoked in prayer: that of living united in Christ. The last three meeting in this review decidedly enlarge the ecumenical process to a genuinely ecclesial commitment. In each of them Benedict signed a joint declaration, recalling the importance of the road followed since Vatican Council II and pursued by the relevant theological commissions right down to our own day. The visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of the Anglican Church, Rowan Williams, to the Vatican on 23 November confirmed the conviction of keeping alive the search for all those elements useful for sharing our faith in Christ: a fruitful dialogue through common prayer, witness and service.Now that we have absorbed the emotion we felt during the four days of the Pope’s visit to Turkey, we can appreciate all the more the extraordinary richness that it signified for everyone, including non-Christians, in this great country, though we Christians are only a tiny minority. The prophetic gestures during the meetings with Bartholomew I and Mesrob II, and with other pastors and leaders of the Christian communities, gave us the taste for dialogue that we re-experienced every evening during this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which we anticipated by a few days here in Istanbul. It is of vital importance to acknowledge that, together with our pastors, we are joined together with all the faithful of all the Churches to prepare the great day of the re-establishment of full unity, through dialogue, prayer and daily ecclesial life.A clear echo of the preceding events was the visit of His Beatitude Christodoulos, Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, to the Vatican just five weeks ago. Once again through significant gestures, he and Benedict XVI added a further thread to the ecumenical fabric that firmly marks the rhythm and future of the Church of Christ in the twenty-first century. We should not forget the profound and sincere desire repeatedly expressed in these meetings to re-establish the yearned-for unity of the body of the Church round the altar of the Lord.So let us be illuminated by the light of the Gospel that wishes to loosen our tongues and heal our deafness, so that we may become credible messengers in the constant search for unity.Turkey: Mesrob II, “Hrant was a brave man””It’s enough to think that all those who hold different views in our country are potentially enemies to be combated and silenced. Hrant was a brave and generous man, and a man full of love for everyone, from children to the Turkish land that he felt with all his heart was his home”, said Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II in paying tribute to the Armenian Turkish journalist, Hrant Dink, editor of the news magazine Agos, who was killed by a nationalist extremist youth in Istanbul on Friday 19 January. Mesrob II was speaking at his funeral. He continued: “Many knew Hrant just as a journalist and an intellectual, but few knew his passion for the most vulnerable and defenceless in our land, the orphans. He himself, who grew up since the age of eight in our orphanage here in Istanbul, later tried throughout his life to help them; he showed himself close to them with all his affection and did his utmost to ensure they did not feel abandoned and alone”. “We wish to thank – continued the Patriarch – the President of the Republic and all the various Turkish civil authorities for the solidarity and support they have shown at this time. But solidarity cannot be limited to this. No one must feel himself authorized to silence, judge or crush different opinions, and this respect for everyone can only come on the basis of our daily conduct, our laws, and what out history books relate and explain to us”. The funeral of the murdered journalist was followed by thousands of mourners who brandished posters with the slogans: “All of us are Hrant” and “Article 301 is Hrant’s assassin”, recalling the article of the Turkish Constitution that penalises anyone who dares to speak out against Turkey. During the ceremony, the wife of the journalist released a few white doves into the air.