Card. Kasper on Anglican, Catholic parishes 'twinning'
for papal visit
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’ historic visit to the Anglican
church of All Saints in central Rome on Sunday will be marked by the ‘twinning’
of the Church of England community with the Catholic parish of Ognissanti on
the south side of the city.
The Pope’s visit comes as part of celebrations for the 200th
anniversary of the first Church of England Eucharist, which took place in the
so-called ‘English ghetto’ near the Spanish steps on October 27th 1816. He will
be the first pope to visit an Anglican Church in his own Diocese of Rome.
Members of All Saints and Ognissanti have worked together
informally for almost a decade, attending each other’s liturgical celebrations
and providing services to the hungry and homeless. The Catholic parish of
Ognissanti on the Via Appia Nuova is the titular church of Cardinal Walter
Kasper, former president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian
Unity. It's also the place where Pope Paul VI celebrated the first Mass in
Italian in March 1965, following the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican
Council.
Cardinal Kasper spoke to Philippa Hitchen about the pastoral
outreach of his parish and about the importance of Sunday’s papal visit to All
Saints..
Cardinal Kasper says the Pope’s visit to All Saints’
community is a further step marking “the growing of our relationship”: Pope
Francis presence as the Bishop of Rome, he says, is “very significant”. Noting
that he is the titular cardinal of the Catholic parish of Ognissanti, twinned
with All Saints, he says “for me it's a very joyful event” which will help to
further those ecumenical relations.
These relations, the cardinal continues, don't just grow
through theological dialogue, even though that is important, but also through
personal contact and especially by praying together. He notes that Jesus did
not “make an imperative to have unity” but rather he “prayed that all may be
one” and ecumenism, he says, is the “sharing of this prayer of Our Lord”
Sunday’s liturgy will include a renewal of baptismal vows
and Cardinal Kasper stresses that being “baptized together in the same Lord
Jesus Christ” is the foundation of the ecumenical movement. Today, he
says, all baptized Christians “have to stand together and give common witness”
against violence and terrorism, seeking to promote justice and peace and
learning that “what we have in common is more than what divides us”.
Ognissanti, the cardinal notes, is a very lively parish
which is engaged in much pastoral work and open to the challenges facing all
Christians today. It has worked especially with the migrant community,
including the provision of rooms for women migrants who have come to Rome
needing a place to stay.
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