Pope Benedict XVI is encouraging Catholic and Orthodox Christians to
work together in re-evangelizing traditionally Christian countries.
“For
a renewed proclamation of the Gospel in the modern world we need
evangelizers animated by the same apostolic zeal of (Saint) Paul,” the
Pope said in a letter to mark the close of the twelfth Inter-Christian
Symposium.
Over the past four days, the symposium has brought
together both Catholic and Orthodox scholars in the Greek city of
Thessaloniki to discuss the topic of “The witness of the Church in the
Modern World.”
The Pope described the theme as “very timely and central”
to his “concerns and prayers” for a “new evangelization” of
traditionally Christian countries where the practice of the Christian
faith has declined in recent times.
Pope Benedict noted that
although the Church has never ceased to “proclaim the salvific mystery
of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,” the regions in need of
re-evangelization are “currently experiencing the effects of a
secularization capable of impoverishing the most profound aspects of
man.”
People living in these regions seem to give a
“contradictory” response to the Christian Gospel, the Pope said.
On the
one hand, “there is widespread disinterest, even a lack of sensibility”
towards transcendent things, and on the other hand there seems to be “a
profound nostalgia for God” that “persists in the hearts of many,
expressing itself in various ways.”
Christianity was brought to
the city of Thessaloniki by St. Paul in the first century. The Pope
asked for his intercession that the talks between the Orthodox and
Catholic Churches encourage “a climate of fraternal charity,” and
observed that the “mutual understanding of our traditions and true
friendship are already in themselves a contribution to the cause of
Christian unity.”
Pope Benedict also pointed out that the current
cultural, social and economic environment “presents the same challenges
to both Catholics and Orthodox.”
Instead of divisions, these challenges
should call forth a Christian evangelizers who are “mature in faith and
capable of finding a meeting point beyond the real tensions,” he said,
quoting Pope Paul VI.
The Inter-Christian Symposium is
co-organized by the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality at Rome’s
Pontifical Antonianum University and the Orthodox faculty of theology at
the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
The initiative hopes to help
heal the rift between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches which has
persisted since the 11th century.