Fruitful grounds

“The election of Kirill will spur the dialogue between the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches. This dialogue will most likely commence by addressing moral and social issues, given the Patriarch’s special sensitivity over these issues and the interesting work undertaken until today”, claimed Msgr. Giampaolo Crepaldi, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and President of the Cardinal Van Thuân International Observatory on the social doctrine of the Church, who drew a “comparison” between the social doctrine of the Catholic Church and the social doctrine of the Orthodox Church in Moscow, after two months since the election of metropolitan Bishop Kirill as Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia following the death of Patriarch Alexis II. Necessary cooperation. In the near future the defence of life, along with peace, social and economic justice and development “will gain ever-greater attention in the framework of inter-religious dialogue”, underlined Msgr. Crepaldi. “Catholics are called to participate with their Social Doctrine”. To this regard the prelate referred to Catholic Church teaching presented in the “Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church” issued in 2004 (whose Russian translation was presented the following year in Moscow by Msgr. Crepaldi in conjunction with the President of Justice and Peace Cardinal Raffaele Martino), and to two documents issued by Moscow’s Patriarchate: “The Foundation of the Social Conception of the Russian Orthodox Church” (2001) along with the recent “Foundations of the Doctrine of the Russian Orthodox Church on dignity, freedom and human rights” issued in 2008. Patriarch Kirill (at the time metropolitan Bishop) is one of the “chief architects” of these two documents, the first to address this subject. A commitment for the defence of life. Apart from the differing emphases, due also to “their different backgrounds”, Msgr. Crepaldi underlined the three documents’ reference to the Gospel, “to theology and to the praxes of the Church of the origins: the reflection of the Fathers of the Church”. Notably, “the basic idea that social teaching placed at the service of mankind throughout the course of history belongs to the Church by nature” representing a common horizon that bears “fundamental importance”. According to the Secretary of the Pontifical Department these documents ought to be understood as a key in the interpretation of social problems, thus enabling the full commitment of Christian faithful in this area”. In particular, Msgr. Crepaldi said, the theme of “the politics of life”, in other words, “the social commitment for life, for its protection and promotion” is “one of the greatest ecumenical commitments in the current historical moment and the primary contribution that Christian religions can give to our disoriented society”. The Christian roots of Europe. Another major theme is “the rediscovery of the Christian roots of Europe”. “This”, stated Msgr. Crepaldi, shouldn’t merely be viewed as “a need of Christian religions” but rather as “a social and political need, since without the recovery of religious traditions, European society risks choking, it risks debasing the values it believes in to the benefit of the nihilism of technology”. And while these “are likely to become two of the emerging themes in the upcoming dialogue between the Catholic and the Russian Orthodox Churches”, the prelate remarked, the three mentioned documents point also to other issues such as human rights, democracy, employment, environmental protection and peace. The common good. “The Social Doctrine is bound to become a fruitful ground in the dialogue between Orthodox and Catholics” reiterated the prelate, mentioning various elements to this regard. Firstly, the “emergence of common problems, such as secularization, the dialogue with the Islamic religion in Europe, the tendency of European states to separate politics and religion”, but also “the attack against the inalienable rights concerning life and the family” along with “the need to recover the Christian roots of Europe”. In addition to this, confrontation in these areas is promoted, according to Msgr. Crepaldi by “the personality of Patriarch Kirill and the internal problems of the Orthodox Church that he is called to address”. Elected with large majority (508 ayes also from the Ukrainian Church marked by strong divisions -and 169 noes), “his mandate is to proceed along the path of unity – Msgr. Crepaldi stated – and to focus on education and ‘presence’ in society.” Kirill is called to “promote Orthodox ‘enlightenment’, aimed at defending the Church from the attacks of modernity, and at establishing alliances for revival”. On these bases, concluded Msgr. Crepaldi, “significant convergence in the cooperation for the common good are possible and are to be hoped for”.