Tuesday, April 1, 2014, by Father Ronald Roberson
In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published March 5, Pope Francis was asked about the significance of the meeting he was planning to have with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in the Holy Land in late May. In his response, the pope said that “Orthodox theology is very rich. And I believe that they have great theologians at this moment. Their vision of the Church and of synodality is marvelous.” What did the pope mean by this?
It has long been recognized that the great Eastern and Western traditions of the Church are different, but that at the deepest level they are not contradictory but complementary. In its 1964 Decree on Ecumenism, the Catholic bishops acknowledged at the Second Vatican Council that the traditions of the East offer a different perspective on our faith that should be respected; that the East has its own ecclesiastical laws and customs, its own spiritual, theological and liturgical heritage. They went on to say in paragraph 16 that “this holy Council solemnly declares that the Churches of the East […] have the power to govern themselves according to the disciplines proper to them, since these are better suited to the character of their faithful, and more for the good of their souls.”
Many theologians in recent times have written that to a large extent these differences between East and West can be traced back to their different perspectives on the role of the Holy Spirit in the Church. Both of them have their roots in the New Testament and both are equally valid.
In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published March 5, Pope Francis was asked about the significance of the meeting he was planning to have with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in the Holy Land in late May. In his response, the pope said that “Orthodox theology is very rich. And I believe that they have great theologians at this moment. Their vision of the Church and of synodality is marvelous.” What did the pope mean by this?
It has long been recognized that the great Eastern and Western traditions of the Church are different, but that at the deepest level they are not contradictory but complementary. In its 1964 Decree on Ecumenism, the Catholic bishops acknowledged at the Second Vatican Council that the traditions of the East offer a different perspective on our faith that should be respected; that the East has its own ecclesiastical laws and customs, its own spiritual, theological and liturgical heritage. They went on to say in paragraph 16 that “this holy Council solemnly declares that the Churches of the East […] have the power to govern themselves according to the disciplines proper to them, since these are better suited to the character of their faithful, and more for the good of their souls.”
Many theologians in recent times have written that to a large extent these differences between East and West can be traced back to their different perspectives on the role of the Holy Spirit in the Church. Both of them have their roots in the New Testament and both are equally valid.
Read the full article by Fr Roberson here:
USCCB Blog: Orthodox Church Highlights Synodality, the Holy Spirit Creating Community
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