goran

I guess he will ask f****veness from Serbs in some 750 years from today...

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Pope asks F****veness for Catholics Sins Against Orthodox

By Zenit News Srvice
Zenit
Pope Asks F****veness for Sins Against Orthodox Christians In Historic Move
toward Christian Unity

Catholic Way - ATHENS, Greece, MAY 4, 2001 (Zenit.org).

In a historic "mea culpa" after arriving in Athens, John Paul II asked God
to f****ve
Catholics for sins committed against Orthodox Christians during their
1,000-year separation.

The first day of the Pope's pilgrimage in the footsteps of St. Paul were
filled with e***enical moments. In the morning, the Bishop of
Rome visited Orthodox Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece. In
the afternoon, the two leaders pronounced a joint
declaration between Catholics and Orthodox. Later, Archbishop Christodoulos
visited the Pope at the Apostolic Nunciature, the
Vatican representation in Athens, as a sign of gratitude for this historic
event.

At his first meeting with Christodoulos, the Roman Pontiff clarified the
purpose of his visit.

"Clearly, there is need for a liberating process of purification of memory,"
he said. "For the occasions past and present, when sons
and daughters of the Catholic Church have sinned by action or omission
against their Orthodox brothers and sisters, may the Lord
grant us the f****veness we beg of him."

John Paul II referred specifically to the event that caused the most wounds
between Catholics and Orthodox: the Fourth Crusade of
1204, which, instead of going to the Holy Land, ended in Constantinople.

Catholics from the West pillaged the city, the symbol of Orthodoxy, and
tried to occupy it politically to impose the Latin rite and Latin
jurisdiction on the Byzantine Church.

"Some memories are especially painful, and some events of the distant past
have left deep wounds in the minds and hearts of people
to this day," John Paul said.

"I am thinking of the disastrous sack of the imperial city of
Constantinople, which was for so long the bastion of Christianity in the
East," he continued. "It is tragic that the assailants, who had set out to
secure free access for Christians to the Holy Land, turned
against their own brothers in the faith. The fact that they were Latin
Christians fills Catholics with deep regret.

"How can we fail to see here the 'mysterium iniquitatis' at work in the
human heart? To God alone belongs judgment and, therefore,
we entrust the heavy burden of the past to his endless mercy, imploring him
to heal the wounds that still cause suffering to the spirit of
the Greek people."

He added: "Together we must work for this healing if the Europe now emerging
is to be true to its identity, which is inseparable from
the Christian humanism shared by East and West."

The Orthodox archbishop, who refused to join the Pope in common prayer
meetings, applauded these words.

Before the Pope's address, Archbishop Christodoulos, in polite but hard
words, had reproached the Pontiff for the historical faults of
Catholics. He requested a petition of f****veness for the centuries of
grievances, from the 11th-century schism, to the lack of public
condemnation of the division of Cyprus after the Turkish invasion.

"Traumatic experiences remain as open wounds in the vigorous body" of the
Greek people, Christodoulos said. "To date, not even
one single petition for f****veness has been heard."

The Pope, who read the words Christodoulos was pronouncing with great
attention, said that reconciliation between the Orthodox
and Catholics is possible. He recalled that in 1965, in a joint action Pope
Paul VI and the e***enical patriarch of Constantinople
canceled the sentence of excommunication between Rome and Constantinople.

"This historic gesture stands as a summons for us to work ever more
fervently for the unity that is Christ's will," John Paul said. "The
Catholic Church is convinced that she must do all in her power to prepare
the way of the Lord and to make straight his paths; and she
understands that this must be done in company with other Christians -- in
fraternal dialogue, in cooperation and in prayer."

Later, in a historic first at the Areopagus, the Greek Orthodox and the Pope
pronounced a declaration together. The do***ent begins
with the acknowledgment of the apostolic succession of the Bishop of Rome
and the Orthodox archbishop of Athens, and relates the
Catholic and Orthodox as sister Churches.

"We condemn all recourse to violence, proselytism and fanaticism in the name
of religion," the do***ent states. "We especially
maintain that relations between Christians, in all their manifestations,
should be characterized by honesty, prudence and knowledge of
the matters in question."

The declaration was significant, in part, because it was pronounced by the
leader of a country in which Orthodox theologians consider
the Catholic Church to be heretical.

On Saturday the Pope flies to Syria, where he will make an appeal for
Mideast peace. On Tuesday he heads to Malta. There he will
preside at a beatification ceremony for two Maltese priests and a nun.