Sorry I have not been able to update the Vatican-Canterbury banner, after both Benedict XVI and Archbishop Williams have since resigned...
Papal messages for the new
Archbishop of Canterbury
March 21, 2014
The Vatican today released the message sent by Pope Francis to Mons. Justin Welby, on his enthronement today as Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of the Anglican Communion.
To the Most Reverend and Right Honourable
Justin Welby
Archbishop of Canterbury
"May grace and peace be multiplied to you" (1 Pet 1:2b)
I thank you for the kind words contained in your message to me at my election, and I wish in turn to offer my greetings and best wishes on the occasion of your Enthronement at Canterbury Cathedral.
The pastoral ministry is a call to walk in fidelity to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Please be assured of my prayers as you take up your new responsibilities, and I ask you to pray for me as I respond to the new call that the Lord has addressed to me.
I look forward to meeting you in the near future, and to continuing the warm fraternal relations that our predecessors enjoyed.
From the Vatican
18 March 2013
NB: I picked up the signature from Pope Francis's official photograph where he signs himself simply as 'Franciscus' without the 'PP.' after his papal name. Is he doing without that, too? [I get different answers to when I try to find out what the PP. stands for - one says it is simply short for 'PAPA', which means Pope in Latin and in Italian. Another reference says it stands for PAPA ET PONTIFEX (Pope and Pontiff), another for 'PONTIFEX PRIMUS' (first bridge-builder).
The Vatican also released the letter of congratulations sent to Mons. Welby last February by Benedict XVI after the latter was elected to succeed Archbishop Rowan Williams:
To the Most Reverend and Right Honourable
Justin Welby
Archbishop of Canterbury
In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven (Col 1:3)
With these words of Saint Paul, I greet you joyfully in the name of the Lord Jesus, "whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (1 Cor 1:30), and I offer you my prayerful good wishes on the occasion of your installation as Archbishop of Canterbury.
You take up your office at a time when the Christian faith is being called into question in many parts of the Western world by those who claim that religion is a private matter, with no contribution to offer to public debate.
Ministers of the Gospel today have to respond to a widespread deafness to the music of faith, and a general weariness that shuns the demands of discipleship. Yet the hunger for God, even if unrecognized, is ever-present in our society, and the preacher's task, as a messenger of hope, is to speak the truth with love, shedding the light of Christ into the darkness of people's lives.
May your apostolate yield a rich harvest and may it open the eyes and ears of many to the life-giving message of the Gospel.
Let us give thanks to God that the bonds of affection between Catholics and Anglicans have become firmly established in recent decades, through dialogue and collaboration, as well as personal meetings between our respective predecessors. It is greatly to be hoped that we will continue to build upon that important legacy.
The disappointments that have been encountered and the challenges that remain on our journey towards full communion are well known, but there have also been signs of hope. Recognizing that our unity will arise only as a gift from the Lord, let us entrust ourselves to his Holy Spirit, as we renew our determination to seek genuine unity in faith and to engage more profoundly in common witness and mission.
With sentiments of fraternal regard, I assure you of my prayers as you take up your new responsibilities. Whatever challenges you encounter, may the Lord grant you strength and wisdom, and may the Holy Spirit guide you in all that you undertake in his name.
From the Vatican
4 February 2013
In a related item - Hallelujah1 I just came across a second cardinal to add to my 'honor roll' of those who have not sworn a self-imposed omerta about Benedict XVI. It's Cardinal Georges Cottier, a Swiss theologian and octogenarian cardinal, former theologian of the Pontifical Household under John Paul II. He was interviewed about Pope Francis's meeting with ecumenical and interfaith delegations yesterday. I will only present what he said about Benedict XVI (with a preliminary question about relations with Islam). It's too bad he was not asked about Benedict XVI's efforts with respect to the Orthodox Churches (with whom the theological dialog has arrived at discussing the character of the primacy of the Pope in the 1000 years that preceded the Great Schism:
Benedict XVI's contribution
to inter-religious dialog
From an interview with Cardinal Cottier
by Claudio Perlini
Translated from
March 21, 2013
...
In the inter-religious dialog, what can you say about the Church's relationship with Islam?
Many steps forward are being achieved, thanks to the work of the Pontifical Council for Inter=Religious Dialog, but the absence of unity within Islam itself is evident. The Muslim majority is not responsible for the acts of violence committed in the name of Islam, which is a vast terrain, in which the Church, wherever and whenever possible, has tried to create occasions for dialog. But this is a process that will probably require decades, if not centuries, to be consolidated.
What do you think of Benedict XVI's contribution to inter=religious dialog?
He gave it a very great impulse. All the work that has been done till now would not have been possible without the desire of the Holy Father, whether it is with the Jews or the Muslims.
Making progress means meeting one another, observing each other, because dialog cannot just be carried out long distance, and that is why the process will be long. Nonetheless, there can be no doubt of Benedict XVI's contribution.
Almost 30 years since John Paul II's first 'prayer for peace' meeting in Assisi (1986), what can you say about the 'spirit of Assisi' today?
The fundamental idea behind the Assisi assembly was very clear: if there exists an authentic religious sentiment which seeks to do God's will, this can never divide peoples but can only represent a principle that leads to peace.
For this reason, Benedict XVI organized a new meeting in Assisi (2012) precisely to assure that this religious spirit for peace may not be dispersed, to remind all believers that worship of God is incompatible with hatred, and that it is necessary to have good will towards our neighbor and the great gift of peace to which we all aspire. That is the spirit of Assisi.
The cardinal neglects to say that Benedict XVI's assembly in Assisi also included intellectuals who represent atheistic and agnostic thinking but who consider themselves humanists with the same aspiration for peace as all men of good will.]
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/03/2014 01:06]