Sunday, May 29, 2005
WELCOME ECUMENISM
The first trip outside Rome made by a newly elected Pontiff carries a special significance, as though it represents the prime focus of the new Papacy. It’s interesting, then, to see where Pope Benedict XVI chose to go—not to his home nation, not to a political powerhouse. He chose to make this first trip a trip that courts unity with Eastern Orthodoxy. Perhaps it can be concluded that instinctively he knows that the best hope for restoring holiness to the RCC is to accomplish a healing of this schism, bringing with it a fresh concept of what authentic spirituality looks like, to replace the counterfeit Spirit of Vatican II that has been haunting the Catholic Church for 40+ years.
Significantly that authentic spirituality has grown up under persecution, mostly. If we are facing the end of Christian culture, it would be the Orthodox most of all who would know how to go about dealing with a hostile culture while clinging tightly to the faith.
It's a hopeful sign.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for Benedict!
