A publication about the activities of the Centro Pro Unione “UT OMNES UNUM SINT” Digital Edition C ENTRO P RO U NIONE Semi-Annual Bulletin Web https://bulletin.prounione.it E-mail bulletin@prounione.it 2532-4144 Digital Edition ISSN N. 97 - Spring 2020 E-book Thirty-fifth Supplement (2020) compiled by Loredana Nepi `A Bibliography of Interchurch and Interconfessional Theological Dialogues 16 Menachem Lorberbaum True Religion. Maimonides’ Legacy and Inter-religious Theology `Centro Conferences 11 Brian Farrell 5 Francisco José Regordán Barbero Consideraciones Generales sobre la Sinodalidad: Una cum capite suo `Centro Conferencias 3 James F. Puglisi, SA `Letter from the Director 2 In this issue A Ministry of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement Centro Pro Unione The Ecumenism of Pope Francis `Centro Conferences2 Centro Pro Unione Bulletin DIRECTOR'S DESK Centro Pro Unione Bulletin A semi-annual publication about the activities of the Centro Pro Unione The Centro Pro Unione in Rome, founded and directed by the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, - www.atonementfriars.org - is an ecumenical research and action center. Its purpose is to give space for dialogue, to be a place for study, research and formation in ecumenism: theological, pastoral, social and spiritual. The Bulletin has been pubblished since 1968 and is released in Spring and Fall. IN THIS ISSUE Letter from the Director EDITORIAL STAFF bulletin@prounione.it Contact Information Via Santa Maria dell'Anima, 30 I-00186 Rome (+39) 06 687 9552 pro@prounione.it Website, Social media www.prounione.it @EcumenUnity CENTRO PRO UNIONE A Ministry of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement N. 97 - Spring 2020 Fr. James Puglisi, SA – Director Centro Pro Unione James F. Puglisi, SA Director Centro Pro Unione Spring 2020, n. 97 / Digital Edition (Web) ell this Spring was filled with surprises not the least was the COVID 19 attack. In spite of the grave situation we are able to put together this issue of the Bulletin – Centro Pro Unione with what we hope are some interesting topics. Since Pope Francis has been attempting to implement a more synodical form of government for the Catholic church, we thought it important to take a look at the theological and canonical issues involved in activating this ancient form of ecclesiology for the Latin Catholic church. We invited an outstanding canonist and member of the faculty of Canon Law at the Antonianium University, Francisco José Regordán Barbero, ofm, to introduce us to the principal issues concerning synodality. His conference, “Consideraciones Generales sobre la Sinodalidad: Una cum capite suo” allows a more comprehensive and technical understanding of the issues concerning the practice of synodality on the various levels: local, regional and universal. As has been a long standing custom at the Centro, we jointly celebrated with the Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity with a lecture and an ecumenical prayer vigil. This year Bishop Brian Farrell, lc, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity laid out for us the ecumenism of Pope Francis. He contrasted the present Pope’s approach with that of his predecessors and at the same time explained the pastoral principles that animate Francis’ approach which is a very personal one of meeting the other so as to breakdown barriers of fear and prejudices that have far too often colored our relationships. The third lecture that we present here is one of high interest for Jewish-Christian inter-religious studies. The conference “True Religion. Maimonides’ Legacy and Inter-religious Theology” given by Prof. Menachem Lorberbaum from Tel Aviv University and senior fellow of the Hartman Institute. His lecture places the focus on the issue of idolatry as opposed to that of truth in the practice of religion. Prof. Lorberbaum offers the contribution of the Medieval Jewish theologian, Maimonides as he explores where some of the current problems of inter-religious relations is going today thereby showing the relavancte of Maimonides today’. The Centro’s Spring lecture series was to include the following lectures: Pio X: Riformatore prima del Vaticano II by Prof. Giovanni Maria Vian, God, Science and Religion by Rabbi Jack Bemporad and Laudato Si’ and “universal communion”: Re-thinking Liturgy in a Time of Ecological Emergency by Prof. Teresa Berger. Unfortunately we have had to move these to the Fall because of the pandemic. We have had to cancel our Summer Institute as well. For additional information on the program promoted by the Centro, MAD for Ecumenism, a program for the mutual accountability of the Churches, please check our web calendar for the new dates especially if you are following us on streaming (www.prounione.it). We cannot close our Spring issue without including the next supplement of the Bibliography of Interchurch and Interconfessional Theological Dialogues compiled by our librarian, Dr. Loredana Nepi. Lastly, we would like to announce the theme for the Week of Prayer 2021: Abide in my love and you shall bear much fruit (cf. Jn 15:5-9) We invite our readers to always check our web site for dates and events as well as the up-dating of our data base on the international theological dialogues and of course our two libraries: pro and dialogo. This Bulletin is indexed in the ATLA Religion Database, published by the American Theological Library Association, 250 S. Wacker Drive, 16th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606 (www.atla.com). W ›Francisco José Regordán Barbero ›Brian Farrell › Menachem Lorberbaum ›Bibliography of Interchurch and Interconfessional Theological Dialogues (Thirty-fifth Supplement / 2020)3 Centro Pro Unione Bulletin CENTRO CONFERENCIAS N. 97 - Spring 2020 Prof. Francisco José Regordán Barbero, ofm - Canonista y profesor de derecho canónico en la Pontificia Universidad Antonianum - Roma Prof. Francisco José Regordán Barbero – Canonista y profesor de derecho canónico en la Pont. Univ. Antonianum 1 A nadie que siga, siquiera superficialmente, la actualidad de la vida de la Iglesia Católica podrá pasar por alto el interés creciente que esta tomando la así llamada “sinodalidad”. No es sin embargo una cuestión espontanea. Como se ha dicho, ya desde la clausura del Concilio Vaticano II “intorno agli anni Sessanta del XX secolo si é generalizata […] un’attenzaine crescente per la dimensione conciliare della Chiesa, denominata ‘conciliarietà’ o ‘sinodalità’” (Alberigo). Esta identificación primera de los términos “conciliaridad” y “sinodalidad” nos ayuda a entender que el término “sinodalidad”, no es un concepto que por sí solo ofrezca un significado limitado que pueda definirse fácilmente, por ejemplo, mediante un opósito o su contrario. De hecho, podemos decir que el termino “sínodo” no es 1 La presente colaboración, tal como reza el subtitulo es un breve resumen de la conferencia pronunciada el día 6 de noviembre de 2019 en el Centro Pro Unione. El sistema de citación vista la brevedad de esta breve contribución, consiste en indicar entre paréntesis, en el texto principal, el primer apellido del autor considerado, después de su oportuna mención. La referencia completa se encontrará al final de este breve artículo. un termino técnico que haga como tal referencia a una realidad única, diversa de otras. Por ello resulta conveniente para ver el sustrato que se encuentra bajo esta terminología conviene volver a la asimilación de los términos “conciliaridad” y “sinodalidad”. Se ha dicho que ambos términos “sono astratti, ma non arbitrari” (Ruggeri), pero sea como fuere, lo importante en apretada síntesis es que con ambos términos, comprendidos en su generalidad, hacen referencia como dice el documento “La sinodalidad en la vida y en la misión de la Iglesia” de la Comisión Teológica Internacional, a una “específica forma de vivir y obrar de la Iglesia […] que se manifiesta y realiza en concreto su comunión en el caminar juntos, en el reunirse en asamblea y en el participar activamente de todos sus miembros en su misión evangelizadora” (cf. nº 6). A nuestro fin, especialmente interesante nos resulta la referencia o especificación que el documento citado hace cuando une el concepto de sinodalidad a aquel de corresponsabilidad (cf. nº 6). Así se puede leer que “el concepto de sinodalidad se refiere a la corresponsabilidad y a la participación de todo el Pueblo de dios en la vida y a misión de la Iglesia” (nº. 7). En otras palabras, la corresponsabilidad (sinodalidad) está radicada en la estructura sacramental de la Iglesia (Arrieta). Un peligro que se advierte en seguida es que dependiendo del significado que se le dé al termino “corresponsabilidad” pueden deslizarse unas consecuencias u otras. Para poder centrar la definición de “corresponsabilidad” resulta necesario afirmar que la corresponsabilidad se orienta hacia un objetivo común. Uno puede ser corresponsable cuando existe un objetivo que debe ser alcanzado por todos y en el proceso de ello se ejecutan cuántos actos legítimos, mejor convengan. No cabe duda de que dicho objetivo en la Iglesia es aquel que dota de sentido la misión evangelizadora de la que apenas hemos hecho mención. Esto es: id por todo el mundo y predicad el Evangelio a toda criatura (Mc 16, 15). Por tanto, la sinodalidad entendida como corresponsabilidad está al servicio de la evangelización común de todos los fieles. (Extracto de la conferencia pronunciada el día 6 de noviembre de 2019) `Prof. Francisco José Regordán Barbero, ofm Consideraciones Generales sobre la Sinodalidad Una cum capite suo 14 Centro Pro Unione Bulletin CENTRO CONFERENCIAS N. 97 - Spring 2020 La doctrina ha definido la corresponsabilidad como “il prevalere della responsabilità di ciascuno rispetto all’operato comune: nella corresponsabilità, infatti, ciascuno partecipa (e rispondere) ‘del’ e ‘dal’ proprio punto di vista istituzionale, dal munus/ministerium, cioè, che esercita per il bene comune; in tale dinamica ciascuno rimane ‘se stesso’ –almeno sotto il profilo funzionale–, deve, cioè, esercitare il proprio ‘ruolo’ specifico, approcciare le tematiche e le questioni secondo l’ottica peculiare dello status/ministerium occupato all’interno della Chiesa e per il bene di tutti” (Gherri). La clave pues reside en la conjugación de la naturaleza no colegial de la potestas regiminis eclesial, con este principio de corresponsabilidad orientado a un objetivo común. El CIC, ha establecido diferentes “modulazioni della corresponsabilitá” (Gherri). Así tenemos, entre otros, desde el Consejo de un superior religioso hasta un sínodo de Obispos. La clave consiste en observar que en todas estas formas -como se ha dicho- se ha asume y se articula “la costitutiva non-paritarietà della struttura consultiva ecclesiale, articolata sempre in modo bipolare asimmetrico” (Gherri), es decir, un superior y un órgano de consulta con más o menos competencias donde se concretiza la mencionada corresponsabilidad y que están al servicio del debido discernimiento del órgano de gobierno para el mejor fruto de sus actos de gobierno. Es decir que no puede existir la “sinodalidad” si no existe una cabeza a / con la que desde el propio munus, poner en aras al objetivo común, lo que, por el oficio u otra condición apta, se requiere. Y es que esta corresponsabilidad así entendida, va pues a consistir en ultimo termino, en un ejercicio común a todas las diversas “instituciones sinodales”, esto es, el ofrecer consejo, lo que en italiano ha sido denominado como “conciliarietá” (Gherri), que tendrá diversas actualizaciones en el modo, según la institución concreta que se trate, v. gr. un sínodo diocesano, un sínodo de obispos, … etc. Pudiera tras la lectura de lo citado, sufrir la tentación de pensar que la corresponsabilidad y por ende la sinodalidad pudiera reducir a mostrar a la autoridad un mero parecer. No es así. Consultar –como se ha afirmado– no se identifica con informarse. De este modo, aconsejar no es ofrecer una mara indicación (Gherri). El consejo requiere de quien lo da un conjunto de interacciones que difícilmente pueden reducirse a una pericia. Se requiere una relación entre los que piden y ofrecen el consejo a fin de poder “hacer ver” (y no meramente mostrar) una determinada visión de la realidad, que implica análisis, temores y esperanzas, no pocas veces de corte espiritual (piénsese por ejemplo en las intuiciones de los contemplativos) que no un mero parecer de un aspecto de la realidad. En definitiva, la sinodalidad es ciertamente un modo de caminar juntos, de situar al centro una común vida de fe al servicio de una misión común, que en comunión con la cabeza, (radicada en la potestad de régimen) se traducirá o concretizará, en determinados medios de actuación al servicio del discernimiento como forma de gobierno querida por la razón y el Divino Fundador de la Iglesia. -A lberigo , g. “Conciliarita?, futuro delle chiese,” in A. Melloni-S. Scatena (ed.), Synod and Synodality. Theology, History, Canon Law and Ecumenism in New Contact.International Colloquium Bruges, 2003. Christianity and history, v. 1. (Münster/Hamburg/ London: LIT, 2005) -A rrietA , J. i. Órganos de participación y corresponsabilidad en la Iglesia. (Diocesana, 1994). -g herri , P. “Corresponsabilità e diritto: il diritto amministrativo”, Apollinaris, 82 (1-2) 2009, pp. 227 - 264). -g herri , P. Consultare e consigliare nella Chiesa atti della giornata canonistica interdisciplinare. (Città del Vaticano: Lateran University Press, 2018) pp. 7-30. -r uggieri , g. Chiesa sinodale. (Roma/Bari: Gius. Laterza & Figli Spa., 2017). `Participants greet the professor in the lecture hall Prof. Francisco José Regordán Barbero – Canonista y profesor de derecho canónico en la Pont. Univ. Antonianum 5 Centro Pro Unione Bulletin CENTRO CONFERENCES N. 97 - Spring 2020 Introduction In this presentation I will try to answer three questions: - what world and what church did Pope Francis inherit at his election? (quick summary/ not exhaustive analysis) - what specific ecumenical preparation did he bring to his petrine ministry? - in the years of his papacy, in his own words and actions, what has been his particular approach to the restoration of Christian unity? I. What world and what church did Pope Francis inherit at his election? The intensity of ecumenical relations between the churches depends greatly on the churches having the vision and the stamina to engage. This is not an easy time for Christianity, and ecumenism quite frequently takes second place to concerns for survival or maintenance. Because, generally speaking, all churches face the same challenges in today’s world, I begin, not with a Catholic appraisal, but with the Faith and Order consensus document The Church: Towards a Common Vision, published in 2013 as the outcome of almost twenty years of study and consultation among practically all the Christian churches, including the Catholic Church. Section 7 of that document reminds us that “Some developments are particularly challenging to the Church’s mission and self-understanding”. It goes on to mention some of these challenging developments: • the global secularizing culture, which affects all countries and all societies. God is not necessary, the Church is merely a maintainer of traditions that have little to do with the real life-choices of people today. Society should be organized without any reference to transcendent truths or values. These are not just ideas being propounded by elites. They are now the dominant organizing criteria of not only the Western First World, but more and more are becoming a global aspiration. Peoples everywhere tend to identify the freedom and development they yearn for with this secularizing trend. Secularization seems to promise release from rules and limits. Religion with its demands begins to feel intolerable. •the development of social media, where everyone’s opinion can be launched and communicated to a wide audience. Views are no longer based on reality and experience but on virtual reality and the emotions that virtual reality, not real reality, arouses. In a mass of conflicting ideas, many people are disconcerted and without compass. In addition, the ability to move with ease from one network of interests to another diminishes the sense of committed belonging, for example, in interpersonal relationships and in bonding with a particular church. •religious pluralism, all religions are present everywhere. All religions present themselves as valid paths to salvation, and civil legislation more and more requires that they be treated as equally valid, and equally irrelevant in determining social values and laws. As a result, the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the only Saviour of the world is relativized. The Ecumenism of Pope Francis Bishop Brian Farrell, lc Secretary, Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christain Unity (Conference given at the Centro Pro Unione, Thursday, 23 January 2020) Bishop Brian Farrell, lc – Secretary, Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christain Unity AUDIO PODCAST FOR THIS CONFERENCE: https://bit.ly/2WhB77j Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2020 ` Bishop Brian Farrell6 Centro Pro Unione Bulletin CENTRO CONFERENCES N. 97 - Spring 2020 As Pope Francis often says, we are not in an epoch of change but in a change of epoch. In his most recent talk to the Roman Curia he said: “Today we are no longer the only ones who create culture, nor are we in the forefront or those most listened to. We need a change in our pastoral mindset... faith – especially in Europe, but also in a large part of the West – is no longer an evident presupposition of social life; indeed, faith is often rejected, derided, marginalized and ridiculed... Christendom no longer exists!” (21/12/2019). The question is: In such a world, how do the churches own a space for revelation and for authoritative teaching on faith and morals? This new world has already emerged, and all churches are finding it difficult to offer more effective ways of speaking to humanity about God, about salvation and transcendence. As a global entity, the Catholic Church is experiencing all these challenges in an intense way, just when it has become clear that the reforms – the aggiornamento – inaugurated by the Second Vatican Council have become the arena of a definitive clash of minds, draining energy from the Church’s duty to evangelize and serve. Genuine reform is always difficult because, at heart, it requires a correct discernment in new circumstances regarding how the original message (what God has said and done in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ) is to be announced, transmitted and lived today. The message is always relevant, but certain paradigms, structures and methods of church life, which developed over time in dependence on social and cultural conditions different from ours, are no longer effective channels of evangelization and witness. This, in a few broad strokes, is the situation Pope Francis faced when he stepped onto the balcony after his election and asked for prayers. II. What specific ecumenical preparation did he bring to his petrine ministry? 1. Pope Francis often refers to people who have influenced his thinking. [I would invite you to read the presentation he made at the Jesuit Curia (13 December 2019) of the five volumes of the writings of Father Miguel Angel Fiorito, his teacher and guide, published in the latest edition of La Civiltà Cattolica (4070).] He has also mentioned that he was greatly influenced by two other Argentinian theologians he met during the time he spent in the diocesan seminary, before entering the Jesuits: Rafael Tello and Lucio Gera. These teachers showed him that faith and doctrine cannot be separated from action: theology is inseparable from pastoral action in the concreteness of peoples’ lives. They taught Bergoglio to see the People of God, not as a conceptual category, but as made up of – imbedded in – specific populations and their cultures. Hence the unique importance for theology and pastoral action of the religious experience of those peoples and, within those peoples, of the poor. In fact, these mentors and others taught Bergoglio that the poor are not only the object of the Church’s action but also the agent and criterion of that action. In other words, the Gospel message is better assimilated from within the distinct culture of a people by the people themselves, not as something coming to them from outside; not from a supposed higher “ecclesiastical culture”, and especially not from the “modern culture” generated by post-Enlightenment intellectual and political elites. The Church grows not “from the outside to the inside” but “from the inside to the outside”. These guides led the young Bergoglio to consider liberation as a constitutive part of evangelization. Not in the Marxist interpretation that spread through Latin America, but in the sense that runs in continuity from Medellin (1968), Puebla (1979) and Aparecida (2007) in Latin America, to Paul VI’s Evangelii Nuntiandi (1975), to which Francis often refers, through to Pope John Paul’s ‘new evangelization’, to his own Evangelii Gaudium. As a result, Pope Francis sees the Church not as an end in itself, to be served; but as the servant of the people, especially the poor: the famous ‘field hospital’, ‘the church that goes forth’. 2. In Francis’ vision of the Church Christian unity plays a central part. But it was not always that way. Pope Francis came to ecumenism by way of a personal “conversion”, helped by his contact with the Charismatic Renewal. During the flight back from Lund after the Joint Catholic-Lutheran commemoration of the Reformation `H.E. Callista Gingrich, U.S. ambassador to the Holy See attended the event Bishop Brian Farrell, lc – Secretary, Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christain Unity7 Centro Pro Unione Bulletin CENTRO CONFERENCES N. 97 - Spring 2020 (1 November 2016), he admits that during his time as provincial of the Jesuits in Buenos Aires, between 1973 and 1979, “I forbade the Jesuits to get into that [the Renewal]”; “I too have undergone a process of recognizing the good that the Renewal has given the Church.” We know that as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, between 1992 and 2013, he took part in many prayer meetings, and through them made lasting friendships with Catholic Charismatics, as well as Evangelical and Pentecostal figures. In his visit to the evangelical pastor Giovanni Traettino of the Pentecostal Church of Reconciliation, in Caserta, Italy, he noted that “it is they [Evangelicals] who first came to see me in Buenos Aires… And so this friendship began, this closeness among the pastors in Buenos Aires” (28 July 2014). These friendships had a lasting impact on Bergoglio. Interesting is what he says [in an interview with Ulf Jonsson, director of Signum Magazine, on the occasion of his trip to Lund, Sweden, for the 500 th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation] about the Swedish pastor, Anders Ruuth, professor of spiritual theology at the Faculty of Lutheran Theology in Argentina. I quote, “in a really difficult time for my soul, I had a lot of confidence in him and opened my heart. He helped me a lot at that time.... I remember him with much affection and recognition”. Because of such experiences, Jorge Bergoglio arrived at the papacy with a deep desire to do all he could for Christian unity. III. What has been his particular approach to Christian unity in the years of his papacy? 1. The first thing to say is that Pope Francis understands ecumenical relations, above all, as a matter of Spirit-led personal relationships. His personal engagement is especially evident in his meetings with heads of churches and patriarchs. He has met so many of them, in his travels, to the Holy Land, Albania, Turkey, Havana (on the way to Mexico), Lesbos, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan and Egypt, Bulgaria, Rumania, North Macedonia; and so many Heads of Churches have come to Rome, some of them a number of times. In his words: “One feels the fraternity. Jesus is in the middle. For me they are all brothers.” After meeting Patriarch Kiril in Havana he remarked: “We have talked about issues that concern us both. Quite frankly, I have felt the presence of a brother, and he too has told me the same. Two bishops who, first of all, talk about the situation of their Churches; and secondly, of the world situation”. The same with the leadership of the Anglican and Protestant churches: they read him; they are grateful for his leadership, and they pray for him ... 2. Pope Francis’ Ecumenism in His Own Words Pope Francis’ statements on ecumenism would fill hundreds, maybe thousands, of pages. We can only reference a few. For example, we can suppose he says what is on his mind when, each Christmas, he speaks to the Roman Curia. In his 2017 talk he spoke about Christian unity, and offered a good framework for the main points I am trying to make in this presentation. He refers to ecumenical relations as “an essential requirement of our faith, a requirement that flows from the depth of our being believers in Jesus Christ”. It is one of the Church’s “irreversible commitments”. Then he makes an interesting point. Without using the well-known terminology of ‘dialogue of truth’ and ‘dialogue of life and love’, he clearly distinguishes between them and, in a sense, makes a preferential option for the ‘dialogue of life’. Based on his reading of the real situation of the search for Christian unity, he is convinced that the theological and ecclesiological differences that still divide Christians will only be overcome along the path of a “shared journey”. A) Francis is calling for a shift of emphasis from the traditional mode of ecumenism – search for progressive notional agreement – a methodology of “life together”: a real sharing by Christians in and of what they hold in common, with respect for the differences that remain complementary and do not reach the level of contradiction and conflict. Differences are in fact not all of the same weight! In Pope Francis’ view the Churches would move towards one another, giving priority to the essentials that already unite them, and not using their differences as a reason – or an excuse – to continue to live and act separately, as divided churches have done for centuries. I think we can describe his starting point this way: the Catholic Church, which, in Vatican II’s language (Lumen Gentium, 8), has preserved all the endowments of the one Church founded by Christ, is nevertheless only a part of the whole body of the baptized, who all together are the depository and witness of Christ’s saving grace. `Arch. Ian Ernest, Director Anglican Centre in Rome and Prof. Donna Orsuto, Director The Lay Centre, devout friends of the Centro Pro Unione Bishop Brian Farrell, lc – Secretary, Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christain Unity8 Centro Pro Unione Bulletin CENTRO CONFERENCES N. 97 - Spring 2020 Perhaps the heart of Pope Francis’ ecumenical legacy is this change of perspective, with its call for a more inclusive way of looking at Christians in the other churches. Francis is urging us to journey towards fuller communion, not by starting from what is mine and remaining locked into my church’s narrative about other Christians, but thinking, judging and acting within and from the much wider vista of the whole Christian family, of all the baptized incorporated into Christ. So there is this broader Christianity, made up of all the baptized, in which the Holy Spirit produces works of grace and salvation. But beware! Pope Francis has not invented some new revolutionary vision. He is merely drawing out the consequences of what Lumen Gentium, 5 already stated: “They (other Christians) are consecrated by baptism, in which they are united with Christ.... Likewise in some real way they are joined with us in the Holy Spirit, for to them too He gives His gifts and graces, whereby He is operative among them with His sanctifying power”. Francis wants us to recognize that there are elements of Christ’s church that are better understood and preserved outside the visible boundaries of one’s own communion. As an example, his references to the fact that Catholics can learn much about synodality from the Orthodox. We have to be ready to receive from others what would lead our own community to conform better to God’s designs. Already in Evangelii Gaudium he had advanced this guiding principle: “It is not just about being better informed about others, but rather about reaping what the Spirit has sown in them, which is also meant to be a gift for us” (246). We may ask, has the “the exchange of gifts” of which all recent Popes have spoken really taken root? How far do we Catholics and do our brothers and sisters of the other churches show a real willingness to receive from one another? B) Such an approach of course begs the question: what do we do about our differences? For Francis diversity is not a negative, but a positive. For him “the Church is one in diversity.” How often has he mentioned Oscar Cullmann’s term, ‘reconciled diversity’? During his visit to the Pentecostal Church of Caserta (28 July 2014) he says: “the prism (polyhedron) is unity, but all its parts are different, each has its own peculiarity, its charisms. This is unity in diversity”. In EG he calls it “communion amid disagreement”. What do we do about differences? Here and there some ecumenists are looking for a new “hermeneutic of difference” 1 . Hopefully others will take up the challenge of developing the concept further! It will be a mighty struggle against the tendency towards uniformity and towards self-referential thinking! Many Catholics think that there is only one way of being Church. The Catholic blogosphere is full of them. Centuries of latinization of the Eastern Churches is a sad example, 1 Placido Sgroi, Istituto di Studi Ecumenici San Bernardino, Venice. with consequences that affect some of those churches even today. C) Some specifics in Francis’ approach to ecumenism. There are two recurring ecumenical events repeated every year where Pope Francis can offer extended remarks, and therefore a more reasoned explanation of his thinking. The first is the Vesper service at the closing of the Week of Prayer, on 25 January each year. The other, more specific to the Orthodox world, is the meeting with the delegation of the Church of Constantinople each June for the feastday of Rome’s patrons Sts. Peter and Paul. I have re-read these talks to see what issues he highlights. In 2014, presiding at the Vespers for the Week of Prayer for the first time as Pope, Francis recalled the ecumenical commitment of John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II, as if looking to them for guidance: “The work of these, my predecessors, enabled ecumenical dialogue to become an essential dimension of the ministry of the Bishop of Rome, so that today the Petrine ministry cannot be fully understood without this openness to dialogue... the journey of ecumenism has allowed us to come to a deeper understanding of the ministry of the Successor of Peter, and we must be confident that it will continue to do so in the future.” A reform of the papacy: Every Pope since Saint John XXIII has recognized that a broader sharing of authority and responsibility and accountability – in other words, a genuine practice of the collegial and synodical nature of the Church – is needed. “It is my duty, as the Bishop of Rome, to be open to suggestions which can help make the exercise of my ministry more faithful to the meaning which Jesus Christ wished to give it and to the present needs of evangelization” (Evangelii Gaudium ,32). As he said at the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Synod of Bishops, on 17 October 2015: “The Pope is not, by himself, above the Church; but within it as one of the baptized, and within the College of Bishops as a Bishop `A group of participants in the Conference Bishop Brian Farrell, lc – Secretary, Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christain Unity9 Centro Pro Unione Bulletin CENTRO CONFERENCES N. 97 - Spring 2020 among Bishops, called at the same time – as Successor of Peter – to lead the Church of Rome which presides in charity over all the churches.” And regarding Bishops’ Conferences: “a juridical status of episcopal conferences which would see them as subjects of specific attributions, including genuine doctrinal authority, has not yet been sufficiently elaborated” (EG, 32). Here again, Pope Francis is not pressing for some revolutionary novelty, but for the re- appropriation of certain dynamic principles that belong to the essence of the Church, to the Church as communion and community: synodality and collegiality, pastoral discernment and respect for intermediate structures. Here we’re talking about the big picture: the application of the reforms of Vatican II! The whole body of the Church has to move towards that objective. Francis can only plant and nourish; and pray that his successors will follow. This kind of reform in the Catholic Church is seen by our ecumenical partners as a major source of hope for ecumenism in the twenty-first century. More recently the January Vespers have highlighted two important points of Francis’ ecumenical outlook. In 2018 he insisted that “even when divergence separates us, we recognize that we belong to the people of the redeemed, to the same family of brothers and sisters, beloved by the one Father.” In 2019 he urged: “we must acknowledge the value of the grace granted to other Christian communities. As a result, we will want to partake of the gifts of others.” Francis’ approach to difference, the language of “exchange of gifts”, a new “hermeneutic of difference” and Receptive Ecumenism, all seem to lead in the same direction. Something similar can be seen in his yearly meetings with the delegation from Constantinople. In the first years, Francis’ attention was focussed on the theological dialogue, but always in connection with his call for a culture of encounter: “we must not be afraid of encounter and true dialogue. This does not lead us away from the truth; rather, through an exchange of gifts, it leads us, under the guidance of the Spirit of Truth, towards the whole Truth (cf. Jn 16:13)” (2013). Then, in 2017 the question of reconciling differences appears with force: “In the first millennium, Christians of East and West shared in the same Eucharistic table, preserving together the same truths of faith while cultivating a variety of theological, spiritual and canonical traditions compatible with the teaching of the apostles and the ecumenical councils. That experience is a necessary point of reference and a source of inspiration for our efforts to restore full communion in our own day, a communion that must not be a bland uniformity.” And more recently he has become more specific regarding what is required for communion: “I am increasingly convinced that the restoration of full unity between Catholics and Orthodox will come about through respect for specific identities and a harmonious coexistence in legitimate forms of diversity. The Holy Spirit... harmonizes them (different gifts) and brings them into authentic unity, which is not uniformity but a symphony of many voices in charity. As Bishop of Rome I wish to reaffirm that, for us Catholics, the purpose of dialogue is full communion in legitimate forms of diversity, not a monotonous levelling, much less absorption.” Conclusion: a ‘Personal’ Way of Doing Ecumenism 1. Pope Francis’ ecumenism is the result of a spiritual and intellectual conversion. A conversion from the typical ‘exclusivist’ ecclesiology of the past to a recognition that God is working through all communities of the baptized. Francis enjoys the trust of ecumenical partners. They may not agree with everything he stands for, but they recognize in him a true disciple of the Lord, even a ‘born again’ Christian, and not just a cultural Catholic defending power and ecclesiastical interests. 2. For Francis, words are no longer enough. Prophetic gestures are needed. Like giving the relics of St. Peter to Constantinople. A prophetic and almost mystical impulse! He has explained that it was an inspiration that came to him in prayer, the night before the celebration. Something entirely in the realm of the Spirit, way above questions of ecclesiastical diplomacy `Among listeners of the conference, students from Pontifical University - Angelicum in Rome Bishop Brian Farrell, lc – Secretary, Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christain UnityNext >