HIS HOLINESS ARAM I VISITING POPE FRANCIS - BILATERAL ECUMENISM NEEDS TO BE GIVEN PRIORITY IN VIEW OF THE GROWING DECLINE OF MULTILATERAL ECUMENISM - Antelias

Accompanied by high ranking delegation composed of ten primates, His Holiness Aram I began his official visit to the Vatican on Tuesday 3 June 2014.

Aram I arrived in Rome by a private plane and was met at the airport by His Eminence Cardinal Koch, the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the officials of the Vatican. Accompanying His Holiness are: His Grace Arch. Gomidas Ohanian, His Grace Arch. Oshagan Choloyan,His Grace Arch. Khajag Hagopian His Grace Arch. Sebouh Sarkissian, His Grace Arch. Moushegh Mardirossian, His Grace Arch. Nareg Alemezian, His Grace Arch. Khoren Doghramajian, His Grace Arch. Shahan Sarkissian, His Grace Bishop. Papken Charian, His Grace Bishop. Shahe Panossian and Rev. Fr. Mesrob Sarkissian.


BILATERAL ECUMENISM NEEDS TO BE GIVEN PRIORITY IN VIEW OF THE GROWING DECLINE OF MULTILATERAL ECUMENISM” -  H.H. ARAM I
 
Addressing the staff of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of Cilicia emphasized the growing importance of bilateral theological dialogues as “the credible and efficient way of leading the churches towards the visible unity”.

His Holiness begun his talk by reminding the pivotal importance of the ecumenical movement for “being church”, because “it reminds the churches of their ecclesial interrelatedness, emphasizes the urgency of healing the brokenness of the church, calls for a deeper interaction between unity and mission, and enhances the interconnection between the local and global”. Hence, in his view, “the ecumenical movement is not an option but an imperative for staying together and being church”.

Against the background of these introductory remarks, Aram I said that the present ecumenical landscape is marked by a shift “from institutional to people-centered ecumenism, multilateral to bilateral, Christocentric to ecclesiocentric, fellowship-centered to non-committal, multi-confessional to confessional, and global to local ecumenism”. Hence, according to the Armenian Catholicos, “the ecumenical movement has become restless, in search of a new self-understanding, new self-articulation and a new vision”. The ecumenical agenda, too, steadily is shifting “from visible unity to issues pertaining to church and society, from church-centered ecumenism to inter-religious dialogue”. These developments said Aram I are the result of globalization and radical changes taking place in the life of churches and societies at large.

His Holiness Aram I then identified some of the implications of these emerging ecumenical realities for the life and witness of the World Council of Churches (WCC). As a person who knows the WCC well having served for fifteen years as the Moderator of its Central and Executive Committees, Catholicos Aram I pointed out that “visible unity has almost lost its centrality, and reception-oriented processes, such as BEM, Apostolic Faith, nature of the church etc. remain in the shelves of the Council”. He said that although the 10th Assembly called for “moving together”, “pilgrimage of justice and peace stressed by the Busan Assembly, may eventually push visible unity to the periphery of the ecumenical moment”. In his view the inter-religious dialogue, a major ecumenical challenge of present times, has become “an area of marginal importance; it needs serious attention”. His Holiness expressed his concern about the Orthodox participation and contribution, “which have been significantly re duced”. As to WCC-Catholic collaboration, Aram I considered it a vital dimension of the Council’s work and called for “the broadening of its agenda and revising of its methodology”.

A group of community leaders and donors from various communities will attend the meeting of the Pope and the Catholicos on Thursday 5 June.