VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 212   
   DATE 30-11-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - Mass in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit: the Church shows fidelity to the   
   Holy Spirit when she does not seek to control or tame Him   
   - Prayer at the Ecumenical Patriarchate: brothers in hope of Jesus resurrected   
   - Francis participates in the Divine Liturgy on the Solemnity of St. Andrew,   
   patron of the Church of Constantinople   
   - Joint declaration of Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomaios I: "We call on   
   all religious leaders to pursue and strengthen interreligious dialogue"   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Mass in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit: the Church shows fidelity to the   
   Holy Spirit when she does not seek to control or tame Him   
    Vatican City, 30 November 2014 (VIS) - Early yesterday afternoon, Pope   
   Francis visited the Latin Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, opened for worship in   
   1846. In the courtyard there is a statue of Pope Benedict XV, erected by the   
   Turks in 1919 during the Pope's lifetime, to thank him for his efforts in   
   favour of the Turkish victims of the First World War. It bears the   
   inscription: "To the great Pope of the world's tragic hour, Benedict XV,   
   benefactor of the people, without discrimination of nationality or religion, a   
   token of gratitude from the Orient". During his papacy, Armenian Christians   
   were massacred in the Ottoman Empire, and Benedict XV used every means   
   available to him - words, humanitarian aid and diplomatic activity - to bring   
   an end to the slaughter.   
    Pope Francis celebrated an inter-ritual Mass with prayers in Armenian,   
   Turkish, Aramaic (Chaldean rite), Syro-Turkish, Italian, French, English and   
   Spanish , attended by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomaios I, the   
   Syro-Catholic Patriarch Ignacio III Youna, the patriarchal Armenian apostolic   
   vicar of Istanbul, Archbishop Aram Ateshian, the Syro-Orthodox Metropolitan of   
   Istanbul Filuksinos Yusf Cetin and other representatives of various   
   evangelical confessions.   
    "In the Gospel", explained Pope Francis, "Jesus shows himself to be the font   
   from which those who thirst for salvation draw upon, as the Rock from whom the   
   Father brings forth living waters for all who believe in him. In openly   
   proclaiming this prophecy in Jerusalem, Jesus heralds the gift of the Holy   
   Spirit whom the disciples will receive after his glorification, that is, after   
   his death and resurrection. The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church. He   
   gives life, he brings forth different charisms which enrich the people of God   
   and, above all, he creates unity among believers: from the many he makes one   
   body, the Body of Christ. The Church's whole life and mission depend on the   
   Holy Spirit; he fulfils all things".   
    The profession of faith itself, as Saint Paul reminds us in today's first   
   reading, "is only possible because it is prompted by the Holy Spirit: 'No one   
   can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit'. When we pray, it is   
   because the Holy Spirit inspires prayer in our heart. When we break the cycle   
   of our self-centredness, and move beyond ourselves and go out to encounter   
   others, to listen to them and help them, it is the Spirit of God who impels us   
   to do so. When we find within a hitherto unknown ability to forgive, to love   
   someone who doesn't love us in return, it is the Spirit who has taken hold of   
   us. When we move beyond mere self-serving words and turn to our brothers and   
   sisters with that tenderness which warms the heart, we have indeed been   
   touched by the Holy Spirit".   
    "It is true", observed the Pontiff, "that the Holy Spirit brings forth   
   different charisms in the Church, which at first glance, may seem to create   
   disorder. Under His guidance, however, they constitute an immense richness,   
   because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of unity, which is not the same thing as   
   uniformity. Only the Holy Spirit is able to kindle diversity, multiplicity   
   and, at the same time, bring about unity. When we try to create diversity, but   
   are closed within our own particular and exclusive ways of seeing things, we   
   create division. When we try to create unity through our own human designs, we   
   end up with uniformity and homogenisation. If we let ourselves be led by the   
   Spirit, however, richness, variety and diversity will never create conflict,   
   because the Spirit spurs us to experience variety in the communion of the   
   Church.   
    "The diversity of members and charisms is harmonised in the Spirit of Christ,   
   Whom the Father sent and whom He continues to send, in order to achieve unity   
   among believers. The Holy Spirit brings unity to the Church: unity in faith,   
   unity in love, unity in interior life. The Church and other Churches and   
   ecclesial communities are called to let themselves be guided by the Holy   
   Spirit, and to remain always open, docile and obedient".   
    He continued, "Ours is a hopeful perspective, but one which is also   
   demanding. The temptation is always within us to resist the Holy Spirit,   
   because He takes us out of our comfort zone and unsettles us; He makes us get   
   up and drives the Church forward. It is always easier and more comfortable to   
   settle in our sedentary and unchanging ways. In truth, the Church shows her   
   fidelity to the Holy Spirit in as much as she does not try to control or tame   
   Him. We Christians become true missionary disciples, able to challenge   
   consciences, when we throw off our defensiveness and allow ourselves to be led   
   by the Spirit. He is freshness, imagination and newness".   
    Our defensiveness is evident "when we are entrenched within our ideas and our   
   own strengths - in which case we slip into Pelagianism - or when we are   
   ambitious or vain. These defensive mechanisms prevent us from truly   
   understanding other people and from opening ourselves to a sincere dialogue   
   with them. But the Church, flowing from Pentecost, is given the fire of the   
   Holy Spirit, which does not so much fill the mind with ideas, but inflames the   
   heart; she is moved by the breath of the Spirit which does not transmit a   
   power, but rather an ability to serve in love, a language which everyone is   
   able to understand. In our journey of faith and fraternal living, the more we   
   allow ourselves to be humbly guided by the Spirit of the Lord, the more we   
   will overcome misunderstandings, divisions, and disagreements and be a   
   credible sign of unity and peace".   
    The Pope extended his embrace "with this joyful conviction" to all those   
   present at the Mass, and expressed his gratitude to the representatives of the   
   Protestant communities, who joined in prayer with the Catholic faithful for   
   this celebration. He also greeted the Armenian Patriarch, His Beatitude Mesrob   
   II, who was unable to attend.   
    "Brothers and sisters", he concluded, "let us turn our thoughts to the Virgin   
   Mary, Mother of God. With her, she who prayed with the Apostles in the Upper   
   Room as they awaited Pentecost, let us pray to the Lord asking him to send his   
   Holy Spirit into our hearts and to make us witnesses of his Gospel in all the   
   world".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Prayer at the Ecumenical Patriarchate: brothers in hope of Jesus resurrected   
    Vatican City, 30 November 2014 (VIS) - After celebrating Holy Mass in the   
   Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Francis transferred at midday to the seat of the   
   Ecumenical Patriarchate in Phanar, the world centre of Orthodoxy.   
    The Orthodox Church has 300 million faithful, present especially in Eastern   
   and Northern Europe, along the north-east coast of the Mediterranean and in   
   the Middle East. It consists of various patriarchal Churches who maintain   
   their autonomy while remaining linked to each other in a spirit of faith. The   
   Ecumenical Patriarchate is the "primus inter pares" with respect to the other   
   Orthodox patriarchates, and co-ordinates their activities. Its ecclesiastical   
   jurisdiction includes not only Istanbul, but extends also to four other   
   Turkish dioceses, Mount Athos, Crete, Patmos and the Islands of the Dodecanese   
   and, following emigration, dioceses in Central and Western Europe, the   
   Americas, Pakistan and Japan. Finally, it is the point of reference for   
   Orthodox faithful throughout the world in territories not under the direct   
   jurisdiction of the other Orthodox patriarchates. For centuries, the seat of   
   the Patriarchate was next to the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia. Following the fall   
   of Constantinople in 1453, it was transferred from 1601 to the quarter of   
   Phanar. The Ecumenical Patriarch is His Holiness Bartholomaios I, whose   
   commitment to inter-orthodox cooperation and ecumenical dialogue is   
   well-known, as well as his interest in the protection of the environment,   
   earning him the moniker "the green Patriarch".   
    The Pope was received by the Patriarch in the Church of St. George, where an   
   ecumenical liturgy took place in which both prayed for the unity of God's holy   
   Churches. After Bartholomaios' discourse, Pope Francis addressed those present.   
    "Each evening brings a mixed feeling of gratitude for the day which is ending   
   and of yearning trust before the oncoming night. This evening my heart is full   
   of gratitude to God who allows me to be here in prayer with Your Holiness and   
   with this sister Church after an eventful day during my Apostolic Visit. At   
   the same time my heart awaits the day which we have already begun   
   liturgically: the Feast of the Apostle Saint Andrew, Patron of this Church. In   
   the words of the prophet Zachariah, the Lord gives us anew in this evening   
   prayer, the foundation that sustains our moving forward from one day to the   
   next, the solid rock upon which we advance together in joy and hope. The   
   foundation rock is the Lord's promise: 'Behold, I will save my people from the   
   countries of the east and from the countries of the west... in faithfulness   
   and in righteousness'.   
    "Yes, my venerable and dear Brother Bartholomaios, as I express my heartfelt   
   'thank you' for your fraternal welcome, I sense that our joy is greater   
   because its source is from beyond; it is not in us, not in our commitment, not   
   in our efforts - that are certainly necessary - but in our shared trust in   
   God's faithfulness which lays the foundation for the reconstruction of his   
   temple that is the Church. 'For there shall be a sowing of peace'; truly, a   
   sowing of joy. It is the joy and the peace that the world cannot give, but   
   which the Lord Jesus promised to his disciples and, as the Risen One, bestowed   
   upon them in the power of the Holy Spirit".   
    He continued, "Andrew and Peter heard this promise; they received this gift.   
   They were blood brothers, yet their encounter with Christ transformed them   
   into brothers in faith and charity. In this joyful evening, at this prayer   
   vigil, I want to emphasise this; they became brothers in hope. What a grace,   
   Your Holiness, to be brothers in the hope of the Risen Lord! What a grace, and   
   what a responsibility, to walk together in this hope, sustained by the   
   intercession of the holy Apostles and brothers, Andrew and Peter! And to know   
   that this shared hope does non deceive us because it is founded, not upon us   
   or our poor efforts, but rather upon God's faithfulness".   
    "With this joyful hope, filled with gratitude and eager expectation, I extend   
   to Your Holiness and to all present, and to the Church of Constantinople, my   
   warm and fraternal best wishes on the Feast of your holy Patron".   
    Francis and Bartholomaios then recited the Lord's Prayer together in Latin   
   and imparted their blessing, the Pope in Latin and the Patriarch in Greek,   
   after which they retired to the second floor for a private meeting.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Francis participates in the Divine Liturgy on the Solemnity of St. Andrew,   
   patron of the Church of Constantinople   
    Vatican City, 30 November 2014 (VIS) - Pope Francis' final day in Turkey   
   began with a meeting, early in the morning at the Pontifical Representation in   
   Istanbul, of the Chief Rabbi of Turkey, Ishak Haleva. The Jewish community in   
   Turkey, consisting of around 25 thousand people, is numerically the second   
   largest in an Islamic country, following that of Iran. The most substantial   
   Jewish settlement in Turkey dates from the period of the Spanish Inquisition   
   (1492). At the beginning of the nineteenth century there were around 100   
   thousand, but this figure dropped drastically as a result of emigration to   
   America and Israel. Pope Benedict XVI also met with the Chief Rabbi during his   
   trip to Turkey in 2006.   
    Following the celebration and after listening to the Patriarch's words, the   
   Pope addressed those present, recalling how as Archbishop of Buenos Aires he   
   had frequently participated in the Divine Liturgy of the city's Orthodox   
   communities, but "today, the Lord has given me the singular grace to be   
   present in this Patriarchal Church of Saint George for the celebration of the   
   Feast of the holy Apostle Andrew, the first-called, the brother of Saint   
   Peter, and the Patron Saint of the Ecumenical Patriarchate".   
    He continued, "Meeting each other, seeing each other face to face, exchanging   
   the embrace of peace, and praying for each other, are all essential aspects of   
   our journey towards the restoration of full communion. All of this precedes   
   and always accompanies that other essential aspect of this journey, namely,   
   theological dialogue. An authentic dialogue is, in every case, an encounter   
   between persons with a name, a face, a past, and not merely a meeting of ideas.   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)