Pope sends message to Bose ecumenical conference
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| Andrei Rublev's icon of the Trinity also renowned as a symbol of Christian hospitality. |
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a message to the head
of the Bose
monastic community to mark the opening of their 25th international
ecumenical conference on Orthodox spirituality.
The Bose community, based in northern Italy, was founded in
December 1965 on the day that the Second Vatican Council concluded its work. It
currently numbers around 80 members, men and women from different Christian
Churches, who live a life of prayer, poverty, celibacy and service.
In the message Pope Francis begins by greeting participants
at the conference, in particular the Orthodox Patriarch Theodoros II of
Alexandria and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who gave the opening address
on Wednesday.
The gift of hospitality
The theme of the four day conference is ‘the gift of
hospitality’, which, the pope notes, is a very significant and contemporary
topic. We are guests in a world, created for us, which we are called to take
care of, he said. But at the same time, we are just passing through this earth
because we are also invited guests in the Kingdom of Heaven, where our true
citizenship lies.
The importance of this conference is also highlighted in a
message from Cardinal Kurt Koch, head of the Pontifical
Council for Promoting Christian Unity, who stresses that the question of
hospitality is one of the key challenges facing our societies today.
Migration and hospitality
Cardinal Koch recalled the visit of Pope Francis and
Patriarch Bartholomew to a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos last
year, as well as the first meeting of the pope with Russian Orthodox Patriarch
Kirill. Both encounters, he said, stressed how the issues of migration and
hospitality are essential themes for ecumenical relationships, in particular
between Catholics and Orthodox.
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