Catholics, Orthodox will find path to full unity, pope says

Published: 2006-02-28

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With deeper conversion and greater love, Catholics and Orthodox will find the path to full unity, Pope Benedict XVI told staff and students from a Greek Orthodox theological college. Meeting the group from the Apostoliki Diakonia theological college of Athens, Greece, Feb. 27, the pope said that, despite "the forces of evil" that have kept Catholics and Orthodox from full unity, visits, cultural exchanges and joint projects have brought new hope to ecumenism. Progress in dialogue, he said, brings hope for "a new dawn, that of the day on which we will understand fully that being rooted and grounded in the love of Christ means concretely finding a way to overcome our divisions through personal and communal conversion, the exercise of listening to the other and prayer in common for our unity." The pope said the exchange program with the Orthodox Church of Greece, which includes a scholarship program for Orthodox priests and seminarians to study in Rome and Catholic priests and seminarians to study in Athens, is especially important for preparing future church leaders for ecumenism.

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