To my venerated Brother Cardinal Walter Kasper President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity Through you, venerated Brother, as President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, I have the pleasure and joy to send warm wishes and greetings to the organizers and participants of the XI Inter-Christian Symposium, sponsored by the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality of the Pontifical Antonianum University and the Orthodox Theological Faculty of the Aristotle University of Thessalonia, which is taking place in Rome Sept. 3-5. I am happy, first of all, for such an initiative of fraternal meeting and confrontation on common aspects of spirituality, which is beneficial lymph for broadening the relationship among Catholics and Orthodox. Indeed, these symposiums, started in 1992, have dealt with important and constructive themes for reciprocal understanding and unity of our intentions. The fact that the meetings are held alternatively in countries with a Catholic or Orthodox majority allows real contact with the concrete historical, cultural and religious life in our respective Churches. This year, you decided to hold the Symposium in Rome, a city that offers all Christians indelible testimonies of history, archeology, iconography, hagiography and spirituality. Above all, a strong stimulus for us to advance towards full communion is the memory of the Apostles Peter and Paul, Protothroni, and so many martyrs who were among the most ancient witnesses to the faith. St. Clement the Roman wrote about them that "in suffering many insults and torments, they became a most beautiful example for us" (cfr. Lettera ai Corinti, VI,1). The theme you have chosen for this meeting, "St. Augustine in the Western and Eastern traditions" - which will be developed in collaboration with the Augustinianum Patristic Institute - is most interesting for a deeper knowledge of Christian theology and spirituality in both the East and the West, as well as for their development. The Saint of Hippo, a great Father of the Latin Church, is of fundamental importance for the theology and for the culture itself of the West, whereas the reception of his thought in Orthodox theology has proven to be quite problematic. But learning together, with historical objectivity and fraternal cordiality, the doctrinal and spiritual riches which form the patrimony of both East and West, is indispensable not only to value them, but also to promote better reciprocal appreciation among all Christians. I express my sincere wish that your Symposium will be fruitful, and especially profitable in discovering doctrinal and spiritual convergences that are useful for building together the City of God, where his children can live in peace and fraternal love, based on the truth of our common faith. I assure you of my prayers for this end, asking the Lord to bless the organizers and the institutions they represent, the Catholic and Orthodox speakers, and all participants. May the grace and peace of the Lord be in your hearts and in your minds. Castel Gandolfo August 28, 2009