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The Official Newspaper of the Diocese of Savannah
Vol. 99, No. 10 Thursday, May 9, 2019
Put Faith in Your Opinions
southerncross.diosav.org
Catholics, Orthodox must work
to heal divisions, pope says
Pope Francis visits with Bulgarian Orthodox Patriarch Neophyte and mem
bers of the Holy Synod at the Palace of the Holy Synod in Sofia, Bulgaria,
May 5, 2019. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
By Cindy Wooden
SOFIA, Bulgaria (CNS)
n the day Bulgarian Orthodox
celebrate as “St. Thomas
Sunday” and read the Gospel about
the apostle asking to touch the wounds
of the risen Lord, Pope Francis said
the divisions within Christianity are
“painful lacerations on the body of
Christ, which is the church.”
Immediately after meeting
Bulgaria’s prime minister and pres
ident May 5, Pope Francis went to
the Palace of the Holy Synod of the
Bulgarian Orthodox Church for a
meeting with Patriarch Neophyte and
top bishops. Also present was King
Simeon II, 81, who ruled only as a
child in the 1940s, was exiled and
returned to his homeland in 1996.
Speaking of St. Thomas and the
wounds of Jesus, Pope Francis prayed
that Catholics and Orthodox, like the
apostle, would “touch those wounds,
confess that Jesus is risen and pro
claim him our lord and our God.”
Patriarch Neophyte welcomed Pope
Francis with kisses on each cheek
and the greeting, “Christos vozkrese”
(Christ is risen). According to report
ers present, the pope kissed the patri
arch’s “engolpion” — an icon on a
chain worn instead of a pectoral cross.
The patriarch thanked the pope for
the special attention the Vatican has
shown to his country and his church
for decades. “This is the second visit
of a pope to Bulgaria, which we can
not explain except as truly special
attention,” he said. St. John Paul II
visited in 2002.
Although his church has withdrawn
from the World Council of Churches
and has a limited international ecu
menical involvement, the patriarch
told the pope that “here in the capital
of Bulgaria — Sofia, which is named
for God’s wisdom — we always pray
for the unity of the world in Christ
and so that united, Christians will be
stronger.”
In his speech to the patriarch and
synod, Pope Francis expressed hope
that one day Catholics and Orthodox
could celebrate the Eucharist together,
but he pointed to signs that show there
already exists a level of oneness in
faith.
First, he said, are the “witnesses of
Easter,” the Catholic and Orthodox
martyrs who gave their lives freely for
the faith, especially during the times of
communist persecution.
“I believe that these witnesses of
Easter — brothers and sisters of dif
ferent confessions united in heaven
by divine charity — now look to us as
seeds planted in the earth and meant to
bear fruit,” the pope said.
An ecumenism of service to the
poor also exists, the pope said, and
must be encouraged to grow. While
doctrinal and disciplinary issues divide
Christians, their call by Christ to assist
those in need unites them.
The 9th-century missionary broth
ers, Sts. Cyril and Methodius, are
highly venerated in both Bulgaria and
North Macedonia, where the pope
was scheduled to travel May 7. The
brothers, who evangelized Central and
Eastern Europe are considered saints
by both churches.
That shared veneration, the pope
said, flows from an “ecumenism of
mission,” especially in a form that
respects the traditions of different cul
tures, but preaches the one Gospel of
Jesus.
The saints’ respect for differenc
es, he said, also teaches Christians
today a way to approach the process
of increasing European unity while
respecting the variety of languages,
faiths and cultures present on the
continent.
“We too, as heirs of the faith of
saints, are called to be builders of
communion and peacemakers in the
name of Jesus,” the pope said.
After the pope’s formal meet
ing with the Orthodox leaders,
Metropolitan Antoniy of Western and
Central Europe accompanied Pope
Francis to the nearby St. Alexander
Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral. The
Orthodox synod had said their cler
gy would not participate in any joint
prayer with the pope, so a chair was
placed before the altar and the pope
prayed alone in silence for several
minutes.
In the square outside the church,
the pope then led an estimated 3,000
people in praying the “Regina Coeli”
prayer.
While Bulgaria is “an Orthodox
country,” with some 80 percent of the
population belonging to the Orthodox
Church, the pope said, some 10
percent of the population is Muslim
and about 1 percent of the people are
Catholic.
The country is “a crossroads where
various religious expressions encoun
ter one another and engage in dia
logue,” the pope said. He prayed that
Mary would intercede with her son
to ensure Bulgaria always would be
“a land of encounter, a land in which,
transcending all cultural, religious and
ethnic differences, you can continue to
acknowledge and esteem each other as
children of the one heavenly Father.”
Statement from Bishop
Gregory J. Hartmayer,
OFM Conv. regarding a
Third Party File Review
T his is Bishop Hartmayer’s statement on a third party file review to
which he and Archbishop Wilton Gregory have agreed and have
been working on for several months:
In the spirit of continued transparency and concern over the sexual
abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in the United States, Archbishop
Wilton Gregory of the Archdiocese of Atlanta and I offered our full sup
port and cooperation to Attorney General Chris Carr for a third party file
review of both Georgia dioceses. Attorney General Carr suggested Mr.
Peter Skandalakis of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council for this review,
and we have all agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding concerning
the process. A report will be issued after the review is completed.
I reiterate my genuine concern for all who have been hurt
directly or indirectly by abuse of any kind by anyone and I renew
my commitment to healing, transparency, and trust. I believe this
review is an important step in the long journey forward.