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Skriven 2006-01-28 16:22:06 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45)
Ärende: Vatican Information Service - Press Release
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                The following press release is Copyrighted by the
                          Vatican Information Service.
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                               VIS-Press releases

CARDINAL KASPER TO VISIT ARMENIA AND GEORGIA

VATICAN CITY, JAN 26, 2006 (VIS) - The third meeting of the joint international
commission for theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Eastern
Orthodox Churches is due to be held at the Catholicosate of Etchmiadzin,
Armenia, from January 26 to 30. Created in 2003, the commission has thus far
celebrated two meetings, the first in Cairo, Egypt in 2004, and the second in
Rome last year.

At the invitation of the Catholicos of all Armenia, Karekin II, the meeting
will be attended by two delegations, one Catholic and one Orthodox, headed
respectively by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity, and Metropolitan Amba Bishoy of the Coptic Orthodox
Church.

According to a communique made public today, the program includes "three themes
for study and dialogue, all related to the central theme of the Church as
communion: bishops in the apostolic succession; the relationship between
primacy and collegiality; and the working and ecclesiological importance of
synods at the local and ecumenical level."

The communique also reveals that, from January 31 to February 4, Cardinal
Kasper, accompanied by Fr. Jozef M. Maj S.J., an official at the oriental
section of the same pontifical council, will visit Georgia.

The visit to Georgia, the first by a president of the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity in 15 years, comes in response to an invitation to
visit the local Catholic community issued by Bishop Giuseppe Pasotto, apostolic
administrator of Caucasus of the Latins. The cardinal will also hold an
official meeting with His Holiness Ilia II, Catholicos Patriarch of all
Georgia, primate of the Georgian Orthodox Church.

In addition to delivering a talk on the subject of relations between the
Catholic and Orthodox Churches, on February 2, Feast of the Presentation of the
Lord, Cardinal Kasper will preside at a Eucharistic celebration in the presence
of local faithful, later participating in an ecumenical prayer at the cathedral
of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Tbilisi, Georgia. The president of the
pontifical council is also due to visit an ecclesiastical academy, as well as
the most important shrines and centers of monastic life of the Orthodox Church.
CON-UC/VISIT ARMENIA:GEORGIA/KASPER VIS 060126 (370)

SUMMARY

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