John Paul II's Ecumenical Approach to the Orthodox

[Aloysius]

Just one little tidbit, not to go off on a tangent, but I feel this needs to be addressed... actually, I'll put it in another thread...

[quote]asked that Copts join the Roman Catholic Church and adopt their traditions.[/quote]

Absolutely untrue characterization of what JPII actually did. JPII told Orthodox Churches that he would change nothing about their Churches if they would only accept the Universal Petrine Teaching authority of the See of Rome. Their traditions could remain, their particular liturgies [b]and[/b] their particular theologies could remain, all that was needed was for them to include the principals of Infallibility as part of their belief and accept that the Doctrines of the Church of Rome were infallible in some way; though they would not be required to change their doctrines to adapt to Rome's wordings of things.

It pained John Paul II that his office was the stumbling block to the Orthodox; on numerous occasions his exhortation to them was, basically, (paraphrased:) "I will step aside and exercise no authority over you; the second I were to do so you could leave communion immediately; all I ask is that you return to communion with the Universal Church... the centralization of Rome's power will remain unique to the Western Church, just accept as points of doctrine the infallibility of the Church as a whole in Ecumenical Councils and the pope in particular; not that his wording is the best way of wording truths, but that he cannot bind the Church in error and nothing else!"

The Orthodox Churches just didn't believe him. But he never, not once, asked Orthodox Churches to adopt Roman traditions; in fact, he was very instrumental in decrying the latinization of Eastern Catholic Churches.

In fact, his approach has often made traditionalist romans uneasy in his lack of asking far reaching doctrinal clarification accompanying any potential reunion with the Orthodox.

[RezaMikhaeil]

I never implied that His Holiness Pope John Paul suggested that the Orthodox Liturgies to change, what I do know is that in order for the church to be in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church is to follow the tradition such as St. Mary being Sinless, etc. It definately wasn't not trusting Pope Johna Paul II that kept them from uniting.

[Aloysius]

The sinlessness of Mary is another issue, yes. But John Paul II was known to be very lax about how far the Orthodox Churches would have to go to re-enter into communion; he did not want to alter your theological traditions very much if at all (to the horror of some traditionalist romans), and that is not reflected in your statement; you made it sound as if he was out to have you conform your church's theology to all the theological traditions of Rome.

[RezaMikhaeil]

[quote name='Aloysius' post='1259498' date='Apr 29 2007, 05:52 AM']The sinlessness of Mary is another issue, yes. But John Paul II was known to be very lax about how far the Orthodox Churches would have to go to re-enter into communion; he did not want to alter your theological traditions very much if at all (to the horror of some traditionalist romans), and that is not reflected in your statement; you made it sound as if he was out to have you conform your church's theology to all the theological traditions of Rome.[/quote]

If I worded it wrong, then I appologize. The point was that in order for the Roman Catholic Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church to mesh into a unity, it would have to agree to a degree on it's crucial theology and at the time that Pope John Paul suggested it, the church wasn't nearly in agreement and that was why Pope Shenounda III declined to join the Roman Communion.

Reza

[RezaMikhaeil]

[quote name='Aloysius' post='1259498' date='Apr 29 2007, 05:52 AM']The sinlessness of Mary is another issue, yes. But John Paul II was known to be very lax about how far the Orthodox Churches would have to go to re-enter into communion; he did not want to alter your theological traditions very much if at all (to the horror of some traditionalist romans), and that is not reflected in your statement; you made it sound as if he was out to have you conform your church's theology to all the theological traditions of Rome.[/quote]

If I worded it wrong, then I appologize. The point was that in order for the Roman Catholic Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church to mesh into a unity, it would have to agree to a degree on it's crucial theology and at the time that Pope John Paul suggested it, the church wasn't nearly in agreement and that was why Pope Shenounda III declined to join the Roman Communion.

Reza