"Ecumenical cooperation in the university sphere helps keep tension alive for the longed-for communion of all Christians". This is the wish expressed by Pope Benedict XVI in a message to card. Walter Kasper, President of the Papal Council for the Promotion of the Unity of Christians, on the occasion of the X Inter-Christian Symposium organised by the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality of the Papal university of Antonianum and the Theological Faculty of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The theme of the Symposium under way from 16th to 19th September on the Isle of Tinos (Greece) is "Saint John Chrysostom, a bridge between the East and the West", and it was chosen because this year is the XVI centenary of his death, which occurred on 14th September 407. "The reflection of your Symposium writes the Pope will help support and invigorate the true, although imperfect, communion which exists between Catholics and Orthodox believers, so that we can achieve that fullness, which one day will enable us to concelebrate the one Eucharist". The message announced today by the Vatican Newsroom also contains a "special" wish for "a full recovery of his health" to the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, His Beatitude Christodoulos, so that "he may resume his pastoral service as soon as he can".
