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                                  VIS-Press releases   
      
   FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF SECRETARIAT FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 9 NOV 2010 (VIS) - On Wednesday 17 November, at the "Sala San Pio   
   X", at Via della Conciliazione 5, Rome, the Pontifical Council for Promoting   
   Christian Unity will hold a public commemoration to celebrate the fiftieth   
   anniversary of the founding of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity,   
   says a communique released today.   
      
   The event will be presided by Archbishop Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical   
   Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and will be attended by Cardinal Walter   
   Kasper, president emeritus, His Grace Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury,   
   and His Eminence Metropolitan Pergamo Ioannis (Zizioulas) of the Ecumenical   
   Patriarchate of Constantinople.   
      
   On 5 June 1960, the day of Pentecost, with his Motu Proprio "Superno Dei Nutu",   
   Blessed John XXIII established, along with the eleven preparatory commissions   
   for Vatican Council II, a Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity. The first   
   president to whom Pope John XXIII entrusted responsibility for the Secretariat   
   was Cardinal Augustin Bea, who was later succeeded by Cardinal Johann   
   Willebrands, Cardinal Edward Idris Cassidy, Cardinal Walter Kasper and, as of 1   
   July 2010, Archbishop Kurt Koch. In 1988 Pope John Paul II, with his Apostolic   
   Constitution "Pastor Bonus", changed the name of the Secretariat to that of the   
   Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Over the course of the years,   
   the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity has administered relations   
   with the vast world of ecumenism, both at a multilateral level and through   
   bilateral contacts and dialogue with many Churches and Christian communities.   
      
   The date for the commemorative celebrations was deliberately chosen to coincide   
   with the plenary session of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian   
   Unity, which will be held from 15 to 19 November and will focus on the theme:   
   "Towards a new stage of ecumenical dialogue".   
   CON-UC/VIS 20101109 (300)   
      
   SUMMARY   
      
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    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS =Meridian, MS= bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)