Along the path of unity

On the footsteps of the Apostle Paul: “the man who endeavoured for Christians’ unity and concord” and who travelled “throughout the world to return man to God and God to man”. This is the “spirit” that characterized the pilgrimage of the Presidents of the Bishops’ Conferences of South-East Europe promoted by the Council of Europe’s Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE), held in Turkey March 3 to 8. Eight Bishops’ Conferences were represented: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Moldavia, Romania, the International Bishops’ Conference of Sts. Cyril and Methodius and Turkey. The welcoming address of Msgr. Luigi Padovese, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia and President of Turkey’s Bishops’ Conference, opened the conference held in Iskenderum, (Eastern Anatolia). The theme of the meeting: “Christian identity in a multicultural and multi-religious context”, bears high topical relevance in the represented countries where Christians and Catholics are minority groups. The encounter continued with a pilgrimage to the places where Christianity first took roots thanks to the Apostle Paul, notably, Anatolia, Tarsus and Mopsuestia. On Saturday March 7, participants convened with the members of Turkey’s Bishops’ Conference while in the afternoon they were received by His Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. The light of the origins. “The Orthodox and Catholic Churches – said Msgr. Dimitrios Salachas, apostolic exarch in Greece – address the same problems with the same pastoral concerns”. The prelate pointed to “contemporary Western and European laity, secularism and neo-Paganism”. “It isn’t rhetorical to say that if Paul were to visit Athens today, in all probability he would have to make the same speech he delivered on the Areopagus two-thousand years ago, given contemporary practiced and ideological neo-paganism”, he added. “His words resound in the hearts of today’s men and women. These words could help contemporaries appreciate the deepest traits of their human dignity and promote the good of the entire human family”, the prelate pointed out. As relates to the dialogue between the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches, Msgr. Salachas acknowledged that “despite closer relations”, “past prejudice still weighs heavily on today’s relations”. Indeed, “the jubilee dedicated to the bimillennial of the birth of Saint Paul has constituted a fruitful occasion to step up ecumenical commitment”. “Undertaking a pilgrimage in Saint Paul’s footsteps” entails “reaching into the very roots of Christianity”, and meeting the “questions” raised in contemporary Europe by proposing “through proclamation, the heart of Christianity: Jesus Christ, Crucified and Resurrected”, declared Msgr. Aldo Giordano, Permanent Observer of the Holy See at the Council of Europe. “We come to these places from Europe where Paul established Christianity, since we feel the urgent need to start anew and reconsider contemporary problems from the standpoint of this light of the origins”, Msgr.Giordano remarked.Minority condition. In the final statement the bishops announced that the Bishops’ Conferences of South-Eastern Europe are most likely to undertake joint action with the European authorities to solve the problem related to “the recognition of the legal status of their ecclesial institutions within the legal systems of their respective countries”. “Such action could be implemented in conjunction with the Special Envoy – Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the Council of Europe and with CCEE (Council of European Bishops Conferences)”. The CCEE statement delves into the situation of Arab-speaking communities living in Turkey that include Catholics of Eastern, Syro-Orthodox, Chaldean and Latin Catholic rites. “Although these communities exist since 1923”, the Bishops state in the release, “These have not been granted minority status, and have no legal personality. This flaw led to restrictions in the administration, the economy, as well as in the pastoral and spiritual direction of religious communities. Indeed, the Bishops point out, “according to the latest survey on Turkey in view of the EU membership candidacy (October 2008), religious freedom underwent little progress”. Precisely because there are “minority Churches in Orthodox or Muslim-majority Countries”, the bishops of South-East Europe call for “greater commitment in the dialogue with the respective Orthodox Churches on the part of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity and in the dialogue with Islam on the part of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue”.