INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE
G8: Religious leaders convene in RomeMay the “Spirit of Assisi” blow on this year’s G8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy. The image was conveyed by Msgr. Vincenzo Paglia, President of the CEI Commission for Ecumenism and Inter-religious Dialogue, who presented the “finalities” of the IV meeting of religious leaders that opened June 16 with a “pilgrimage” to L’Aquila – the Italian city hit by the earthquake of April 6 – as a sign of solidarity with the local population. 129 religious representatives from all religious denominations – Christians, (Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants) – Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Zoroastrians and Hinduists attended the Conference. The Vatican was represented by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious dialogue. At the end of the meeting (June 17) participants issued a final declaration addressed to G8 political leaders, which they will hand to the Italian premier. The G8 summit of July 8-10 will address a number of humanitarian issues that range from the economic and financial crisis, peace and security, to environment and climate changes. Thus, religious leaders explained that with the message they hope to “give a soul” to the issues debated during the G8 meeting. “May this message reach the hearts and minds of our political leaders”, claimed Msgr. Paglia. In the report for the press the promoters explained, “The role of religious representatives is not to provide economic or political solutions to major questions, but to address these issues from an ethical standpoint and provide precious spiritual support”. In this way, they said, “ethical questions will be marked by a spirit of hope, within the framework of the authentic and genuine quest for the common good”.Orthodox Christians: Chambesy Conference The Fourth Pan-Orthodox Pre-Counciliar Conference took place June 7-13 in the Orthodox Centre of Chambésy, near Geneva. The Conference was attended by Orthodox Church representatives outside canonical territories and by members of the mother Churches. Participants included delegates from Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Greece and Georgia. Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, President of the Department for External Relations, led the delegation of Moscow’s Patriarchate. The Conference was chaired by His Eminence Metropolitan John of Pergamo (Zizioulas) delegate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, with the contribution of the secretary for preparation of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, His Eminence Metropolitan Jeremias of Switzerland with the contribution of the Secretariat for the preparation of the Saint and the Grand Council of the Orthodox Church, His Eminence Metropolitan Jeremie from Switzerland. The Primates of the local Orthodox Churches greeted the participants in the Conference with messages sent by their delegates. The members of the Conference have sent letters to all the Primates of the local Churches, asking their prayers and their blessings for the accomplishment of their task. In the statement published at the end of the meeting, written by Metropolitan John of Pergamo, participants said it is “the common will of the Orthodox Churches to solve the question of the canonical organization of the Diaspora Orthodox in compliance with ecclesiology, tradition and canonical practice of the Orthodox Church”. The issue represents a crucial point for the prosecution of the long preparatory phase (dating back to the 1960s) that is aimed at the indiction of “a holy Orthodox Council”. The remaining topics of the holy and great Council, i.e. the method of proclaiming of autocephaly and autonomy, will be discussed in future meetings of the preparatory inter-orthodox commission and will be submitted for approval to the following Pre-conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conferences. Austria: the visit of Patriarch Daniel The visit of Romanian Orthodox Daniel I (Ciobotea) to Austria concluded on June 16 (from June 12). The visit was occasioned by the inauguration of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Salzburg and had further reverberations. “It is mostly an ecumenical gesture”, underlined Nicolae Dura, vicar of the Romanian Orthodox bishop in an interview with Austrian Catholic news agency Kathpress. “I am pleased that a Church based on our model was built in Salzburg by Austrians”, the Patriarch said June 12 during the ecumenical ceremony held at S. Virgil’s cultural centre in Salzburg. “This building is a symbol of ecumenism and a place for dialogue. I wish to thank this Country and the Catholic Church for all that they do for the Romanian people”, Patriarch Daniel I added, praising the ecumenical atmosphere in Austria. On his part Msgr. Alois Kothgasser, archbishop of Salzburg, acknowledged the Patriarch’s activity in the realm of ecumenism and thanked him for his personal support. Also Hans Katschthaler, the current President of “Pro Orient”, the foundation set up in 1964 by Cardinal Franz König, recalled the Patriarch’s deep knowledge of Catholic and evangelical theology. Indeed, Cardinal Karl Lehmann, former President of Germany’s Bishops’ Conference was one of his teachers.
