Pontifical Council for Christian Unity head, Cardinal Walter Kasper, has warned that the church must undergo a "self-critical examination of conscience" to confront the "exponential" rise of Pentecostal movements but has raised hopes for closer Catholic-Orthodox relations. "We shouldn't begin by asking ourselves what is wrong with the Pentecostals, but what our own pastoral shortcomings are," Kasper told the gathering, noting that such evangelical and charismatic groups count 400 million faithful around the world, the Sun-Journal reports.
Cardinal Kasper's comments came on the eve of Saturday's ceremony to elevate 23 new cardinals.
Kasper said the rise of independent, often "aggressive" evangelical movements in Africa and elsewhere had complicated the church's ecumenical task. Nevertheless, Kasper told reporters that "ecumenism is not an option but an obligation."
Kasper opened his remarks by updating the cardinals and cardinal-designates on an important new document approved by a Vatican-Orthodox theological commission that has been working to heal the 1,000-year schism between the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
In the document, Catholic and Orthodox representatives both agreed that the pope has primacy over all bishops - although they disagreed over just what authority that primacy gives him.
Kasper told the cardinals that the document was an "important turning point," since it marked the first time that Orthodox churches had agreed there is a universal level of the church, that it has a primate, and that according to ancient church practice, that primate is the bishop of Rome - the pope.
Kasper said that the Vatican's relations with the Russian Orthodox Church, in particular, had become "significantly smoother" in recent years.
"We can say there's no longer a freeze but a thaw," Kasper said.
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