Put God first ” “

A common testimony of the Gospel in an increasingly secularised world, along with closeness and solidarity to persecuted in Christians in world countries: these were the key issues discussed during the visit of Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for the promotion of Christian Unity, for the first time in Romania December 3-7. The prelate visited Romanian-Catholic, Greek-Catholic and Orthodox communities in the city of Bucharest, Blaj, Alba-Iulia and Cluj-Napoca, with meetings with card. Lucian Muresan, archbishop of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church, archbishop Ioan Robu, president of the Romanian Bishops’ Conference, Patriarch Daniel from the Romanian Orthodox Church, the president of the Republic, Traian Bãsescu, and the Secretary of State for Religious affairs. Shared witness. The encounter of Cardinal Koch with Patriarch Daniel, from the Romanian Orthodox Church, past December 4, highlighted the “importance of shared Christian witness in a secularised society and of solidarity with persecuted Christians in various parts of the world”. As relates to the theological dialogue between the Catholic and the Orthodox Church, said patriarch Daniel, this should be marked by “reciprocity and complementariness between the primate and synodalidity, mindful of the different historical developments of the Eastern and Western realms”. Cardinal Kurt Koch expressed the hope that dialogue and joint reflections will help overcome the present difficulties in the compiling of a working document on the relationship between primacy and synodality from the theological angle. “Our desire and our greatest joy – he added – is to reach unity in the Eucharist, the very unity of the Eastern and Western Churches. We have sought solutions to these themes which we proposed, and the meeting with patriarch Daniel is a source of hope for the future”. Ecumenism? Already and not yet. During his visit to the Catholic communities and in the meetings with bishops and clergy of the local Catholic Church, cardinal Koch was updated on the difficulties encountered in ecumenical efforts across the Country. The bishops and the clergy of the archdiocese of Bucharest conveyed their regret for the “unexpected and unexplainable” decision taken in 2008 by the Romanian Orthodox Church to no longer hold common prayers with members of the Catholic Church, which has sparked off further confusion within families of mixed marriages and an increase in anti-ecumenical sentiments on behalf of some Orthodox priests and lay faithful. Moreover, controversies on the issue of property involving the Romanian Orthodox and the Greek-Catholic Church are yet unsolved. On December 5, Cardinal Koch visited the Greek Catholic community in Ungheni (in the area of Mures) where the Greek Catholic church, dating back to the 19th century, confiscated by the Communist regime and entrusted to the Orthodox community, is being illegally torn down to build a new Orthodox church in its place. His Eminence said he hopes that “in full respect towards the welcome of Orthodox communities in the Western Catholic world”, the “spirit of brotherhood and hope along the path of evangelical Christian love” may soon be recovered. “In the path of ecumenism – the cardinal said in the Greek-Catholic cathedral of Cluj -, God must be put at the first place. Prayer remains the fundamental, distinctive trait of all ecumenical efforts”. “Unitate, unitate”. Despite the difficulties, the Catholic Church in Romania reaffirmed its commitment to continue along the path of ecumenism, in full respect and esteem of the Romanian Orthodox Church as a true sister Church. “Romanian people’s spontaneous cry: ‘unitate unitate’, heard during the visit of John Paul II to Romania, still echoes in our hearts. Fourteen years after that historical visitation it can be said that in Romania ecumenism can be described as a painful, complex ‘already and not yet.’ We hope that the visit of Cardinal Kurt Koch may bear good fruits and visible positive results”, Msgr. Ioan Robu, metropolitan archbishop of Bucharest, told SIR Europe. The visit of Card. Koch – added Msgr. Mihai Fratila, Greek-Catholic auxiliary bishop of Bucharest – well describes the unity of Greek-Catholic faithful with the Holy Father, and it strengthens their feeling of belonging to a world where useless controversies on ecclesial supremacy are not heard”. It is also “an encouragement along the path of mutual respect between the Churches, a sign of the authentic adhesion to Christ, based on the model of the One who died and resurrected, the One who won while loosing”.