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When Fr Roger Schutz, founder of the ecumenical monastic community at Taizé, in south-east France, attended the April 2005 funeral of Pope John Paul II, he received Communion from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. This raised a few eyebrows at the time -- Shutz was a Protestant pastor -- and gave rise to speculation that "Brother Roger", as he was always known, had secretly converted to Catholicism. This idea was supported by what subsequently came to light: that Schutz had repeatedly received Eucharistic communion from John Paul II and received the Eucharist every morning at the Catholic Mass in Taizé. The question...

Vatican City, May 30, 2008 / 10:09 am (CNA).- During his visit to Russia, Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity met with Holiness Alexis II, Patriarch of Moscow, and delivered a message from the Holy Father.  In his letter, Pope Benedict highlighted the similarities of the two Christian religions and expressed gratitude for the dialogue between the two churches.The Pope writes that Cardinal Kasper’s visit to Russia provides a timely opportunity for the Pontiff to extend his greetings to the Russian Orthodox Church, “to express my esteem for your ministry in the Russian Orthodox...

KAZAN, May 27 (Itar-Tass) - Vatican Cardinal Walter Casper begins an unofficial visit to Kazan on Tuesday. Alexander Pavlov, press secretary of the Kazan bishopric, has told Itar-Tass, "The high-ranking official of the Vatican has headed the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity for many years. The guests is to have a conversation on the subject during a meeting with Archbishop Anastasiy of Kazan and Tatarstan". The Vatican envoy is to tour the restored Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross of the Monastery of the Mother of God. The monastery was founded in 1578 in honour...

BERLIN (AFP)---Pope Benedict XVI will not change a Latin prayer which calls for the conversion of Jews because it is theologically proper, a top German cardinal said Saturday. The pope "will leave the prayer as it is. From our point of view, it is entirely correct from a theological point of view," Cardinal Walter Kasper told German television channel ARD.    Kasper, chairman of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and a member of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, announced on Tuesday that a delegation of top rabbis would visit the Vatican this week for talks on the...

The Times March 6, 2008 That Martin Luther? He Wasn’t So Bad, Says Pope Richard Owen in Rome Pope Benedict XVI is to rehabilitate Martin Luther, arguing that he did not intend to split Christianity but only to purge the Church of corrupt practices. Pope Benedict will issue his findings on Luther (1483-1546) in September after discussing him at his annual seminar of 40 fellow theologians — known as the Ratzinger Schülerkreis — at Castelgandolfo, the papal summer residence. According to Vatican insiders the Pope will argue that Luther, who was excommunicated and condemned for heresy, was not a heretic....

One of the Vatican’s most senior cardinals has dismissed the idea that a breakaway group of Anglicans might be received into the Catholic Church en masse – despite Benedict XVI’s personal support for such a move. Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, told The Catholic Herald: “It’s not our policy to bring that many Anglicans to Rome.”The cardinal’s comments refer to the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), a rebel group which claims to represent 400,000 people. Its bishops sent a letter to Rome last month requesting “full, corporate and sacramental union”. But the bishops did not...

Before criticizing Pentecostal churches that draw Catholics as members, Catholic leaders should ask why their own parishes aren't meeting the needs of those who leave, the Vatican's top ecumenical representative said yesterday at Duquesne University. "Our response cannot be in the form of a polemical approach, leaving ourselves to condemn the activities of other groups," said Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Such an approach "is not constructive and could even be counter-productive," he said. While Cardinal Kasper is known for outreach to traditional Protestant and Orthodox churches, he said it is crucial to...

NPR.org, April 2, 2005 · "Tip O'Neill was correct," says Father Tom Reese, editor in chief of America, the Catholic weekly magazine. "All politics is local... even in the Catholic Church." Reese suggests that instead of focusing on the possible papal candidates as a bookie would look at horses in the starting gate, try to think about the election from the point of view of the electors, the cardinals who cast the votes. "Each cardinal is thinking, how will this candidate go over in my diocese?" Reese says. "If you're from the Third World, you're concerned with people who are...

POPE JOHN PAUL II's PONTIFICATE: A PERIOD OF GRAVEST TRIBULATION FOR THE CHURCH A TREMENDOUS ORDEAL And in the case where a "new theologian" should one day accede to the chair of St. Peter? In such a case, the Church undoubtedly suffers an unparalleled ordeal of stupendous gravity and proportions. And this for several reasons. First of all, since it is a question of neo-modernism, "They lay the axe not to the branches and shoots, but to the very root, that is, to the Faith and its deepest fibers" (St. Pius X, Pascendi). Moreover, these theological errors are destined to...

This is the question posed by Pope John Paul II in his sermon at Vespers in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome, on November 13. This ceremony brought to a close the three days of reflection organized at Rocca di Papa to mark the fortieth anniversary of the conciliar decree on ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegatio (see DICI n° 104). “Today we are witnessing the growth of an erroneous humanism, without God, and we are deeply grieved to see conflicts which bring bloodshed to the whole world. In this situation, the Church is called, with all the more reason, to be a sign and...

To the Reverend Brother Cardinal Walter Kasper President of the Pontifical Council For Promoting Christian Unity 1. I am particularly glad, dear Brother, to give you the responsibility to convey my greetings and my sincere appreciation to all the Representatives of Churches, Ecclesial Communities and major world Religions who have gathered in Milan for this XVIII Meeting entitled "Religions and Cultures: the Courage to Forge a New Spiritual Humanism." For me it is a joy and a consolation to see that the pilgrimage of peace I started in Assisi in October 1986 did not stop. On the contrary, it continues...

During a recent address in Ireland, Cardinal Walter Kasper — who has publicly denied the necessity of Jewish and Protestant conversion, and cast doubt on the Apostolic Succession, the dogma of papal infallibility and the infallible teaching of Pope Leo XIII on the invalidity of Anglican orders — revealed that he is still a very busy ecclesial mole. During his address (as reported by Zenit on June 22, 2004) Kasper "posed an inward-looking question when addressing a mixed group of Christians who were reviewing the results of ecumenism over the past few years. ‘Who are we?’ the president of the...

Recently we have seen that Pope John Paul II appointed as Cardinals two German Bishops, Walter Kasper and Karl Lehmann. On what merits? We have illustrated them in the past, but since time has passed, it is well to recall them in order to better understand the gravity of these appointments vis à vis the facts. For Walter Kasper, the miracles narrated in the Gospels are not historical facts related as eyewitness testimony by two Apostles, and as testimony heard by two of the Apostles' disciples, nor are they "segni certessimi” of Our Lord Jesus Christ's divinity as defined by...

His Eminence Walter Cardinal Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, will be at Seattle University September 27, 2004 to accept an honorary degree. The Vatican's top ecumenical officer, in Seattle by invitation from the Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulcher, will be awarded the doctorate of humanities in an afternoon ceremony - beginning at 3 p.m. in Campion Ballroom. Cardinal Kasper has spoken across the world on a wide range of topics including the social context of religion in the United States, the different perspectives of diverse Christian churches, and the need for education to...

There was great excitement about ecumenism after the Second Vatican Council. But the enthusiasm has turned to boredom, because it’s been all talk and little, if any, action. Ecumania is burning itself out. Nevertheless, the Catholic Church’s bilateral ecumenical dialogues just go on and on and on, like some government agency charged with regulating and inspecting buggy whips. The buggy-whip regulators are quite content because they’re employed and getting paid. It’s a nice, cushy job. And the bishops and theologians involved in ecumenical dialogue are also quite content, because they get to jet-set around, be wined and dined in gourmet...

Thomas Woods on "Cafeteria Catholic Bishops": Jewish Bishops Who Have No Intention of Trying to Convery Jews to Christianity. Pick your favorites, ignore the rest. Enough peculiar incidents have occurred within the Church during the past several weeks alone to vindicate the traditionalist argument many times over. Among the most dramatic was the recent appointment of the Benedictine abbot Jean-Baptiste Gourion as a bishop in Israel, where he will minister to the Hebrew-speaking Catholic community there. Bishop Gourion is a Jewish convert. Unfortunately, he shares much in common with the Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger. Both are Jewish converts...

NEWS: March 8, 2004 Bird’s Eye View of the News Atila Sinke Guimarães KASPER’S CURIOUS “CODE OF BEHAVIOR” – Cardinal Walter Kasper, chief of Vatican ecumenism, recently flew to Moscow (February 16-22) to meet Alexis II, the schismatic Russian patriarch and ex-KGB agent. According to Vatican sources, Alexis had invited Kasper to a cordial meeting. Many news reports were claiming that this trip would reveal a new opening of the Russian “Orthodox” toward the Catholic Church. I didn’t believe it. I suspected the opposite, that is, that new concessions from the Vatican were being prepared. Finally, the data about...

Cardinals Meet For a Dialogue With Top Rabbis By NACHA CATTAN In a move that may reestablish the World Jewish Congress as the primary Jewish partner for dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church, this week the organization arranged an unprecedented gathering of top-level Catholic and Jewish religious leaders from around the world. The two-day "open dialogue" included current and former chief rabbis from six countries including Israel, as well as heads of the three main Jewish religious denominations. Catholic participants included 10 cardinals from four continents including Africa and Asia. In addition, two of the Vatican's most senior officials, Cardinal...

STRONG HINTS that the path towards unity with Rome was not blocked emerged at a conference in St Albans last Saturday. In a speech (see right link) that was both open and nuanced, Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity at the Vatican, talked of new interpretations of some of the chief sticking-points: papal authority, eucharistic doctrine, apostolic succession, and the 1896 papal bull that declared that Anglican orders to be invalid. Cardinal Kasper shared a platform with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Revd Elizabeth Welch, a former Moderator of the United...