Catholics and Copts must speak "the common
language of charity"
(Vatican Radio) In a meeting with Egypt’s Coptic
Orthodox leader Pope Tawadros II on Friday, Pope Francis said the two
communities must oppose violence and work more closely together to witness to
Christ in the world.
Recalling the first encounter of a Catholic and a Coptic
pope, Paul VI and Shenouda III in May 1973, following centuries of separation,
Pope Francis spoke of the theological progress, but also the realization that
“it is no longer possible to take refuge behind the pretext of differing
interpretations”.
Shared faith and baptism
Alongside the ecumenism of gestures, words and commitments,
he stressed, there is an effective spiritual communion grounded in a shared
faith and common baptism. Calling for Orthodox and Catholics to speak “the
common language of charity”, Pope Francis urged all Christians to work more
closely together to carry their faith to the world.
In particular he praised the Orthodox leader for his efforts
to promote good relations through the establishment of a National Council of
Christian Churches.
Ecumenism of blood
This deepening of the ecumenical journey, Pope Francis said,
is mysteriously sustained by the blood of the many martyrs, from past centuries
but also of the present day. Recalling the “innocent blood of defenceless
Christians” killed in recent terror attacks, he said “strengthened by this
witness, let us strive to oppose violence by preaching and sowing goodness,
fostering concord and preserving unity”.
Please find below the address of Pope Francis to Pope
Tawadros II in Cairo
The Lord is risen, he is truly risen! [Al Massih kam,
bilhakika kam!]
Your Holiness, Dear Brother,
Only a short time has passed since the great Solemnity of
Easter, the heart of the Christian life, which we were blessed this year to
celebrate on the same day. We thus joined in proclaiming the Easter
message and, in a sense, relived the experience of the first disciples who
together “rejoiced when they saw the Lord” that day (Jn 20:20). This
paschal joy is today made all the more precious by the gift of our joining to
worship the Risen One in prayer and by our renewed exchange, in his name, of
the holy kiss and embrace of peace. For this, I am deeply grateful: in
coming here as a pilgrim, I was sure of receiving the blessing of a brother who
awaited me. I have eagerly looked forward to this new meeting, for I
vividly recall the visit Your Holiness made to Rome shortly after my election,
on 10 May 2013. That date has happily become the occasion for celebrating
an annual Day of Friendship between Copts and Catholics.
As we joyfully progress on our ecumenical journey, I wish particularly to
recall that milestone in relations between the Sees of Peter and Mark which is
the Common Declaration signed by our predecessors more than forty years ago, on
10 May 1973. After “centuries of difficult history” marked by increasing
“theological differences, nourished and widened by non-theological factors”,
and growing mistrust, we were able that day, with God’s help, to acknowledge
together that Christ is “perfect God with respect to his divinity and perfect
man with respect to his humanity” (Common Declaration of Pope Paul VI and Pope
Shenouda III, 10 May 1973). Yet equally important and timely are the
words that immediately precede this statement, in which we acknowledge Jesus
Christ as “our Lord and God and Saviour and King”. With these words, the
See of Mark and the See of Peter proclaimed the lordship of Jesus: together we
confessed that we belong to Jesus and that he is our all.
What is more, we realized that, because we belong to him, we can no longer
think that each can go his own way, for that would betray his will that his
disciples “all be one… so that the world may believe” (Jn 17:21). In the
sight of God, who wishes us to be “perfectly one” (v. 23), it is no longer
possible to take refuge behind the pretext of differing interpretations, much
less of those centuries of history and traditions that estranged us one from
the other. In the words of His Holiness John Paul II, “there is no time
to lose in this regard! Our communion in the one Lord Jesus Christ, in
the one Holy Spirit and in one baptism already represents a deep and
fundamental reality” (Address at the Ecumenical Meeting, 25 February 2000).
Consequently, not only is there an ecumenism of gestures, words and commitment,
but an already effective communion that grows daily in living relation with the
Lord Jesus, is rooted in the faith we profess and is truly grounded on our
baptism and our being made a “new creation” (cf. 2 Cor 5:17) in him. In a
word, there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph 4:5). Hence, we
constantly set out anew, in order to hasten that eagerly awaited day when we
will be in full and visible communion around the altar of the Lord.
In this exciting journey, which – like life itself – is not always easy and
straightforward, but on which the Lord exhorts us to persevere, we are not
alone. We are accompanied by a great host of saints and martyrs who,
already fully one, impel us here below to be a living image of the “Jerusalem
above” (Gal 4:26). Among them, surely Peter and Mark in particular
rejoice in our encounter today. Great is the bond uniting them. We
need only think of the fact that Saint Mark put at the heart of his Gospel
Peter’s profession of faith: “You are the Christ”. It was the answer to
Jesus ever urgent question: “But who do you say that I am?” (Mk 8:29).
Today too, many people cannot answer this question; there are even few people
who can raise it, and above all few who can answer it with the joy of knowing
Jesus, that same joy with which we have the grace of confessing him together.
Together, then, we are called to bear witness to him, to carry our faith to the
world, especially in the way it is meant to be brought: by living it, so that
Jesus’ presence can be communicated with life and speak the language of
gratuitous and concrete love. As Coptic Orthodox and Catholics, we can
always join in speaking this common language of charity: before undertaking a
charitable work, we would do well to ask if we can do it together with our
brothers and sisters who share our faith in Jesus. Thus, by building communion
in the concreteness of a daily lived witness, the Spirit will surely open
providential and unexpected paths to unity.
It is with this constructive apostolic spirit that Your Holiness continues to
show a genuine and fraternal attention for the Coptic Catholic Church. I
am most grateful for this closeness, which has found praiseworthy expression in
the National Council of Christian Churches, which you have established so that
believers in Jesus can work together more closely for the benefit of Egyptian
society as a whole. I also greatly appreciated the generous hospitality
offered to the thirteenth Meeting of the International Joint Commission for
Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox
Churches, which took place here last year at your invitation. It is a
promising sign that the following meeting took place this year in Rome, as if
to bespeak a particular continuity between the Sees of Mark and Peter.
In the sacred Scriptures, Peter seems in some way to reciprocate the affection
of Mark by calling him “my son” (1 Pet 5:13). But the Evangelist and his
apostolic activity are also fraternally associated with Saint Paul, who, before
dying a martyr in Rome, mentions Mark’s great usefulness in his ministry (cf. 2
Tim 4:11) and speaks of him frequently (cf. Philem 24; Col 4:10). Fraternal
charity and communion in mission: these are the messages that the word of God
and our own origins have bequeathed to us. They are the evangelical seeds
that we rejoice to water together and, with God’s help, to make grow (cf. 1 Cor
3:6-7).
The deepening progress of our ecumenical journey is also sustained, in
mysterious and quite relevant way, by a genuine ecumenism of blood. Saint
John tells us that Jesus came “with water and blood” (1 Jn 5:6); whoever
believes in him thus “overcomes the world” (1 Jn 5:5). With water and
blood: by living a new life in our common baptism, a life of love always and
for all, even at the cost of the sacrifice of one’s life. How many
martyrs in this land, from the first centuries of Christianity, have lived their
faith heroically to the end, shedding their blood rather than denying the Lord
and yielding to the enticements of evil, or merely to the temptation of
repaying evil with evil! The venerable Martyrology of the Coptic Church
bears eloquent witness to this. Even in recent days, tragically, the
innocent blood of defenceless Christians was cruelly shed: their innocent blood
unites us. Most dear brother, just as the heavenly Jerusalem is one, so too is
our martyrology; your sufferings are also our sufferings. Strengthened by
this witness, let us strive to oppose violence by preaching and sowing
goodness, fostering concord and preserving unity, praying that all these
sacrifices may open the way to a future of full communion between us and of
peace for all.
The impressive history of holiness of this land is distinguished not only by
the sacrifice of the martyrs. No sooner had the ancient persecutions
ended, than a new and selfless form of life arose as a gift of the Lord:
monasticism originated in the desert. Thus, the great signs that God had
once worked in Egypt and at the Red Sea (cf. Ps 106:21-22) were followed by the
miracle of a new life that made the desert blossom with sanctity. With
veneration for this shared patrimony, I have come as a pilgrim to this land
that the Lord himself loves to visit. For here, in his glory he came down
upon Mount Sinai (cf. Ex 24:16), and here, in his humility, he found refuge as
a child (cf. Mt 2:14).
Your Holiness, dearest brother, may the same Lord today grant us to set out
together as pilgrims of communion and messengers of peace. On this
journey, may the Virgin Mary take us by the hand, she who brought Jesus here,
and whom the great Egyptian theological tradition has from of old acclaimed as
Theotokos, the Mother of God. In this title, humanity and divinity are
joined, for in his Mother, God became forever man. May the Blessed
Virgin, who constantly leads us to Jesus, the perfect symphony of divine and
human, bring yet once more a bit of heaven to our earth.
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