Leo XIV on Liturgy: "We have great need to recover the sense of mystery that remains alive in your [Eastern] liturgies."

Hierarchical Divine Liturgy in Rome for Jubilee Pilgrims from the Eparchy of Mukachevo (May 12, 2025)

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In his audience with Eastern Catholics in Rome for the Jubilee:

I would also like to mention Pope Leo XIII, the first Pope to devote a specific document to the dignity of your Churches, inspired above all by the fact that, in his words, “the work of human redemption began in the East” (cf. Apostolic Letter Orientalium Dignitas, 30 November 1894).

An Eastern Catholic Priest on the Recent Vatican Document

The following message was sent to me by an Eastern Catholic priest. I post it here with his permission.—PAK

I grew up in the Latin Church, although, like many faithful within it, my ancestral heritage was Eastern Catholic.

The Four Qualities of Liturgy: Validity, Licitness, Fittingness, and Authenticity (Full Text of Dr. Kwasniewski’s Lecture)

Below is the full text of a lecture given at Queen of Peace Parish in Patton, Pennsylvania, on September 21, 2020 (video at YouTube). If we want to overcome the impoverished state of liturgical discourse, which results from focusing on only two categories (validity and licitness) and arrive at a fuller, more accurate picture, we must also consider fittingness and authenticity/legitimacy, which are two other irreducibly distinct perfections of liturgy. At the end, I offer a chart that categorizes liturgies — Eastern and Western, Catholic and Protestant, old and new, etc. — in terms of the four qualities. The text was first published at New Liturgical Movement; the chart, however, has been updated.

Los cuatro postes (Ávila)

The Four Qualities of Liturgy: Validity, Licitness, Fittingness, and Authenticity

Dr. Peter A. Kwasniewski

Queen of Peace Parish, Patton, PA

September 21, 2020

The celebration of the traditional Roman Rite Mass is becoming more and more common; it seems that its popularity has been an unintended consequence of both the chaos of the current pontificate and the disappointment of many Catholics with their pastors and parishes during the COVID pandemic. “Enough is enough!” is a frequently heard reaction. People are looking for worship that is reverent, prayerful, God-oriented, and deeply refreshing, and for priests who are truly committed to the care of souls. This, of course, is the work of the Holy Spirit, tugging at the heartstrings of baptized and confirmed Catholics, in whom there was planted the seed of Trinitarian life, which urges us to enter into the divine mystery.

However, there are certain difficulties in our situation, too. A vast amount of information, good, bad, indifferent, and inaccurate, circulates on the internet. Lay Catholics are seldom equipped to be able to understand what they’re reading about, especially when we get “into the weeds” of liturgical history and reform. How are blogs going to equip us with the ability to navigate thorny questions about the pope’s authority, the Church’s fidelity to tradition, the duty of obedience (and the limits thereof), and so on? There is a great need for careful, thoughtful, well-informed presentations on liturgical matters, so that we can deepen our understanding of the complex issues involved, without losing the simplicity of our faith, or the spontaneity of our interior life as we strive to be the saints Our Lord is calling us to be.

After many years, I have come to the realization that a lot of the time, people are talking past one another in liturgical discussions, and that is because they are talking about different aspects or properties of the liturgy, while failing to make the necessary distinctions. There are, in fact, four properties that are always supposed to belong to any liturgy: validity; licitness; fittingness; and authenticity. All of them are important, none of them is dispensable. They are meant to work together, in harmony, to bring us the fullness of divine worship intended by Christ for His Church. The problems we have experienced in recent decades have a lot to do with an exaggerated emphasis on one or another of these qualities, at the expense of the rest. I will begin by defining each one, and then talk about how they are related.

Important Traditional Catholic news from France

1. On July 2, Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta ordained Fr. Daniel Sabur to the priesthood in Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet. He will celebrate the ancient Chaldean Liturgy every Sunday for a Chaldean community that will meet in the Society's chapel in Saint Mathias de Pontoise. On the very next day he celebrated his first Mass (Chaldean Liturgy) in that chapel with 200 faithful (mostly Chaldeans) in attendance. It is the first-ever Chaldean Rite community under the SSPX. (Source: La Porte Latine,) 

"The 'historical' meeting between Francis and Kirill"

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

February 17, 2016

Among the many successes the mass-media attributes to Pope Francis, is the “historical meeting” with the Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill, which took place on February 12th in Havana. An event, it is written, that saw the collapse of the wall which has divided the Church of Rome from the Eastern Church for a thousand years. The importance of the meeting, according to the words of Francis himself, was not in the document - of a merely “pastoral” nature - but in the convergence towards a common destination, not political nor moral, but religious. As for the traditional Magisterium of the Church, articulated in documents, Pope Francis seems to want it substituted by a Neo-Magisterium, transmitted through symbolic events. The message the Pope aims to give is that this is a turning-point in the history of the Church. Yet it is precisely the history of the Church we need to start with to understand the significance of the event. Historical inaccuracies are indeed many and need to be corrected, since it’s exactly upon false historians that doctrinal deviations are frequently built.

First of all, it is not true that a thousand years of history separate the Church of Rome from the Patriarchate of Moscow, seeing that this came about only in 1589. In the preceding five centuries, and even before that, Rome’s Eastern interlocutor was the Patriarch of Constantinople.

Melkite Archbishop: French bishops too politically correct, afraid in the face of Islamists

Many thanks to Gallia Watch for translating this important interview with Mgr. Jean-Clément Jeanbart, the Melkite Greek Catholic Archbishop of Aleppo: The last Christians in Aleppo. We are reposting the full text below, with our emphases. 

(The original French text is on Boulevard Voltaire.)

After describing the dramatic situation the Aleppines are living through, the bishop addressed the journalists who had come to hear him.

A fixed, "unified" Easter? Not so fast!Part I: Why a unified Easter will not be implemented in the foreseeable future.

Introduction

Last year, Pope Francis reportedly spoke of the need to unify the date of Easter among Christians during the meditation that he preached to the World Retreat of Priests at the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome. The text of the meditation itself seems to be missing from the Vatican website (although there is a video) and Zenit's own translation of the meditation (Part 1, Part 2) does not include any references to Easter. The Pope's call to spread the charismatic-pentecostalist practice of "Baptism in the Spirit" (his third and most explicit endorsement of it, by our count) actually warrants far more attention, although none has been forthcoming.

Now we have Justin Welby, the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury speaking of the need to put Easter Sunday on a fixed date. Various news reports (such as this) quote him as saying that it should be fixed on the second or third Sunday of April and that he expects the change to happen between 5 and 10 years' time. Although the reports don't mention it, he is echoing a proposal first made by Paul VI in 1975. (See below.) Some of these reports mention Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros II as a proponent of a unified Easter, specifically on the third Sunday of April. It is true that Tawadros II has been vocal about the idea; but it remains to be seen if his fellow Oriental Orthodox (especially the more numerous Ethiopians) are willing to follow him on this matter. Welby reportedly mentioned the support of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople for a unified Easter, but for reasons explained further in this article this support seems to be overstated.

Infusing the spirit of the Novus Ordo into Eastern Catholicism: Notes on Piero Marini's new appointment, the legacy of the 2010 Synod of Bishops, and the modernizing Chaldean Catholic liturgical reform of 2014

Patriarch Louis Raphael celebrating Mass at the Chaldean church of the Queen of the Holy Rosary in Baghdad, 2014. (Source)

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On Piero Marini and the "Special Commission on the Liturgy" for the Eastern Catholics

September 1 saw, in addition to the Pope's letter on the Jubilee of Mercy with its historic gestures to the SSPX and on abortion, the announcement that he had also renewed the membership of the Special Commission on the Liturgy of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. (Some news sites reported this as a "reconstitution" of the Commission.) As President of this Special Commission he appointed Archbishop Piero Marini who will also remain as President of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses (a post he has held since 2007). Marini is of course better known as the former Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations and disciple of Abp. Annibale Bugnini, having been at one point the latter's personal secretary. 

What If This Year...

...for the Feast of St. Andrew (patron of Constantinople), the Pope had restored the Patriarchate of Constantinople? By appointing a Catholic as Patriarch, that is what Pope Leo XIII did for the venerable Church of St. Mark in Alexandria: "We ... from the plenitude of apostolic power restore the Catholic Patriarchate of Alexandria and establish it for the Copts. ... To us it is most desired that the dissenting Copts look upon the Catholic Hierarchy in truth before God; that is to say the hierarchy which on account of communion with the Chair of Peter and his successors alone can legitimately restore the Church founded by St. Mark, and alone is heir of the entire memory, whatever has been faithfully handed on to the Alexandrian Patriarchate from those ancient forebears." (Acta Sanctae Sedis 28, p. 257-260, anno 1895-1896) 

"The plenitude of apostolic power," said Pope Leo XIII: it would be temerarious to claim that the Bishop of Rome does not have the power to do what Leo XIII did at a moment when it appeared to him that many Copts would return to unity. No serious suggestion is being made here as to what Pope Benedict XVI should do for the feast of St. Andrew this year or next. But just as the Popes have varied greatly in their approach over the centuries to the schismatics of the East -- the Council of Florence treating the Patriarch of Constantinople and 60 Greek bishops as a legitimate deliberative voice with the Latins, even before the Greeks co-defined the Filioque with Pope Eugene IV, versus Leo XIII appointing a Catholic as Patriarch in the face of the schismatic Copt in Alexandria, versus Vatican II-era Popes and their well-known gestures and messages to objectively schismatic Patriarchs -- so also the Greeks have not been as monolithic over the centuries as sometimes supposed. 

For example, John Bekkos, as a result of his study of "Latin" doctrine and the Holy Fathers, professed the truth of the Filioque and the Roman primacy, becoming Patriarch from 1275 to 1282 in full communion. The witness of his life would make it slanderous to accuse him of some sort of sellout for political reasons, and he professed the following in a document sent to the Bishop of Rome: “the due reverence of our obedience; the primacy of the Apostolic See; the highest and perfect primacy and principality over the whole Church catholic; the plenitude of power; to the same, all Churches are subject, and their prelates owe [to the Apostolic See] obedience and reverence." In addition, in line with Pope St. Gregory the Great, he professes that the Roman Church had confirmed and strengthened the privileges of other Churches. (PG 141: 945-950)

And even the Byzantine "hermeneutician of rupture" St. Symeon of Thessalonika could recognize the power, in principle, of the Pope, regardless of diatribes against alleged Latin heresies: "Let [the Latins] only show that the pope perseveres in the faith of Peter, that he is truly his successor under this aspect, and we acknowledge in him all the privileges of Peter, and we recognize him as the leader, as the head and supreme pontiff. ... Let the bishop of Rome only profess the faith of Sylvester, Agatho, Leo, Liberius, Martin and Gregory, and we will proclaim him truly apostolic and we will consider him the first of the pontiffs and we will obey him not only as Peter, but as if he were the Savior himself" (PG 155: 120-121; the original Greek is more accurately rendered in Dictionnaire de Theologie Catholique 14, p.2976-2984).

Are the traditional Eastern liturgies an obstacle to the "New Evangelization"?

Earlier this week, Zenit published an interview with a young Italian priest trained by the Neocatechumenal Way and now incardinated in the Coptic Catholic Church in Egypt. (A PRIEST IN EGYPT -  Father Orazio Patrone Gives an Outsider's View of Christian Life.) Reproduced below are his comments regarding the Coptic liturgy and penitential tradition, comments that echo many of the perjorative statements routinely made by liturgical progressivists against the Traditional Roman liturgy, and significant in the light of the Neocatechumenal Way's growing influence and involvement in the Eastern Catholic Churches. 

In connection with this, our readers might remember that the Patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church in Egypt, Antonios Cardinal Naguib, was the relator for the 2010 Synod of Bishops on the Middle East, which called for a major reform of the Eastern liturgies (see this as well). Emphases mine.

ZENIT: How are intense times, such as Lent and Easter, lived?  

Father Patrone: The season of Lent is lived very intensely, with strict fasting, lived devotionally more than as an occasion of preparation for Easter. Perhaps this is dictated also by the strong influence of the Muslim month of Ramadan. As well, the sacrificial aspect of Good Friday is stressed more than the fundamental importance of the Easter Resurrection. In fact, the funeral of the Lord is celebrated with a very long liturgy as was the custom of the pre-conciliar Latin Churches. Its importance is seen in the fact that participation in worship on Good Friday is almost double that of what it is on Easter Sunday.  

ZENIT: What do you intend to do for the Year of Faith and the New Evangelization?  

Father Patrone: The Church in Egypt is very tied to her traditions, especially those in the liturgy, and has difficulty in entering the dynamism of the New Evangelization desired by Vatican II. On the other hand, there are attempts and openings especially by the Catholic side, which is attentive to and relatively involved in what happens in the West. This is demonstrated, among other things, by the opening, though slow, to charisms that emerged after the Council. In parishes there are now groups such as the Focolares and the Neo-Catechumenal Way, and other movements born in Egypt with the intention of a renewal in the sense of a New Evangelization.

There is scarcely any clear reference here (and in the rest of the article) to the fact that the Coptic Christian people have given a magnificent witness of suffering and martyrdom at the hands of Muslims for nearly 1,400 years, a feat that could scarcely have been possible without that people's demanding liturgical tradition and its long fasts. (One reference each to "sporadic" persecution and to "social" discrimination, and a couple of references to "fundamentalism", simply don't cut it.)

Egypt is also home to Byzantine and Armenian-Rite communities. 

Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete

For most Eastern Christians (Greek Catholics and Eastern Orthodox) who live according to the Byzantine Rite, Lent started this week. From Monday to Thursday in the first week of Lent, Byzantine-Rite Christians traditionally pray the Great (or Penitential) Canon of Saint Andrew (divided into four portions). The following is a recording of part of the Great Canon as sung yesterday (Thursday) in a Ukrainian Greek Catholic parish in Lviv, Ukraine:

 

Greek Catholic Christmas Hierarchical Divine Liturgy

Hierarchical Divine Liturgy of Christmas (according to the Julian Calendar, or January 7 according to the Gregorian Calendar) offered by Bishop Milan Šašik, C.M., the Carpatho-Rusyn (Ruthenian) Greek Catholic Bishop of Mukachevo. The Latin-Rite prelate concelebrating with him is the Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine, Archbishop Thomas Edward Gullickson, a blogging bishop known for his Tradition-friendly views and a reader of Rorate Caeli. (H/t to a reader.)

The complete video of Bishop Milan Šašik's enthronement was posted on Rorate last year. 

Ordinations - I: a new Russian Greek Catholic priest

November 8 of this year witnessed an extremely rare event: the priestly ordination, in Russia and according to the Byzantine Rite, of a Russian Orthodox convert to Catholicism. On this day, Fr. Deacon Pavel (Paul) Gladkov was ordained by Bishop Milan Šášik of the Carpatho-Rusyn Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo in the Latin-Rite Cathedral of the Transfiguration in Novosibirsk (in Siberia).

Many Years to the New Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church!

(Originally posted on March 27, 2011 at 11:45 AM GMT)

UPDATE: The entire rite of enthronement can now be viewed on the official website of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church: LINK.

Scenes from the enthronement of the new head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the 40-year-old Major Archbishop (or, as some would say, Patriarch) Sviatoslav (Shevchuk).

The Bells of Chevetogne

From the Youtube channel of the biritual Benedictine monastery of Chevetogne:

Ringing the New Church Bells of Chevetogne

Scenes from the enthronement of the new Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch

This past Friday, the Maronite Catholic Church enthroned its new head, the 71-year-old Bechara al Rai, as the 77th Maronite Patriarch of Antioch. The enthronement was carried out in a modern-style Maronite church on the grounds of the Maronite Patriarchate's headquarters in Bkerki, Lebanon.

A video with scenes from the enthronement:

Glimpses of a Greek Catholic Hierarchical Divine Liturgy

The following video contains glimpses of the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy celebrated on March 20, 2011 in preparation for the Electoral Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which will elect a new Head of the UGCC (the Major Archbishop of Kyiv, or, as some would say, the Greek Catholic Patriarch of Kyiv).

Participating in the Divine Liturgy, headed by UGCC Administrator Most Rev. Igor (Voznyak), were all the bishops of the UGCC from Ukraine and abroad. They will collectively take part in the Electoral Synod. (H/t Byzantine Texas)

Synod Assembly for Mid-East proposes adaptation and renewal of the Eastern liturgies

The Vatican website has published a "provisional, off-the-record and unofficial English version" of the 44 Propositions hammered out by the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops. As has been the practice for past assemblies of the Synod of Bishops, these propositions are expected to form the basis of a post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation.

The proposition for the liturgy reads as follows:

Propositio 39
Liturgy

The biblical and theological wealth of the Eastern liturgies is at the spiritual service of the universal Church. Nonetheless, it would be useful and important to renew the liturgical texts and celebrations, where necessary, so as to answer better the needs and expectations of the faithful. This renewal must be based on an ever deeper knowledge of tradition and be adapted to contemporary language and categories.

A mere statement of intent that will soon be forgotten, or seed of major reforms? Will the Pope's Apostolic Exhortation adopt this, or quietly ignore this? In peace let us pray to the Lord...

Liturgical Reform: Coming Soon to the Eastern Churches?

During the first General Congregation of the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops on October 11, 2010, the Reporter of the Synod, His Beatitude Antonios Naguib, Patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church, gave a lengthy report before the discussions began. (See this.) In the course of his lengthy report, which touches upon numerous matters of great importance for the dwindling flock of Christians in the Middle East, the Patriarch said the following about liturgical reform:


Liturgy «is the summit towards which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows.» In our Eastern Churches, the Divine Liturgy is at the centre of religious life. It plays an important role in maintaining Christian identity, strengthening a sense of belonging to the Church and animating a life of faith. The celebration of the Divine Liturgy is also a source of attraction to those who may be far from the faith or even disbelievers. Consequently, the Liturgy is an important part of the proclamation and witness of a Church which not only prays, but acts.

A great many people are deeply desiring liturgical renewal, which, while remaining faithful to tradition, would take into account modern sensitivities as well as today’s spiritual and pastoral needs. The work of liturgical reform would require a commission of experts. Perhaps some usefulness might result from adapting liturgical texts to celebrations with children and youth, while remaining faithful to each Church’s heritage. This could be the work of an interdisciplinary group of experts. Some look for liturgical renewal in the area of devotional practices. Whatever the case, adaptation and reform must consider the ecumenical aspect. The particularly delicate question of communicatio in sacris requires special study.

This openness to liturgical reform was immediately taken up in the next morning by Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako, who only last year expressed the hope that this Synod will be a "new Pentecost" for the Eastern Churches, and called for "serious liturgical reform" among the Eastern Churches in order to stem the flow of Eastern Christians to the "sects". (See this article.). Archbishop Sako called for:

Liturgical reformation based upon sacred scripture, but also the patristics and pastoral demands of today. Otherwise our faithful will go looking for other churches as has already happened in some cases.

On a different vein, Coptic Catholic bishop Kyrillos William delivered the following, unusual intervention about the negative impact of the Novus Ordo in Arabic upon the Coptic Catholic Church:

The liturgy, according to the Instrumentum Laboris, is a deeply rooted feature of Eastern culture, thus one cannot lessen its strength in order to preserve the intensity of the faith today. History asserts that in our Middle Eastern countries, the liturgy has always been a school for education in the faith and Christian morality, especially when one considers our population, simple and for the most part illiterate, thanks to numerous biblical readings (six daily readings in our Coptic liturgy, even more on feast days and on certain celebrations) and to prayers composed of juxtaposed biblical quotations.

For this reason we must maintain it with reverence according to the text of Eastern canons law (cfr canon 39 of CCEO).

In the Constitution, Sacrosanctum Concilium, paragraph four, Vatican II affirms the equality of all rites with regard to rights and dignity. In the conciliar decree Orientalium Ecclesiarum, the Council fathers affirm a special regard for the patrimony of Eastern churches, and emphasize their kind deeds towards the Universal Church, quoting Leo XIII’s apostolic letter of November 30, 1894, “Orientalium Ecclesiarum”.

The Conciliar Decree on Eastern Catholic Churches likewise urges all Westerners who are in contact with these Churches, to apply themselves in learning and respecting Eastern liturgies... and it refers to the Motu Proprio “Orientis Catholici” of Benedict XV of October 15, 1917 and Pius XI’s Encyclical of September 8, 1926, “Rerum Orientalium”.

Canon 41 of the CCEO confirms this and requires them to know these liturgies precisely and to practice them.

Now, we can see that quite a few Latin religious persons translate the Latin liturgy into Arabic and they celebrate it for our Eastern faithful helping them thus to separate from their churches and to weaken their belonging to them.

With regards to the liturgical language (Instrumentum Laboris 72), we did not wait for Vatican II to translate our liturgical texts into the current language of our people. Since its origins, our Coptic liturgy was celebrated in the different dialects in Upper Egypt, and in the larger cities in Greek, the language of culture and of daily life. Since the beginning of the tenth century, we an find everything in Arabic. One factor which has helped to preserve the faith, and if we compare with other neighboring countries such as North Africa, we observe that several centuries later, Christianity, which flourished at the outset, has vanished; because a foreign liturgy in a little-known language had been imposed upon them.

I have an explanation to ask for and a wish to hope for: In a country such as ours, Egypt, where all (Catholics, non-Catholics and even non-Christians) are Copts, what is the purpose of the Latin liturgy in Arabic? If there are Latins, it is their right to celebrate the Latin Mass, but in a language other than Arabic, because this attracts our faithful and helps in their dispersal.

Finally, there is the lament of the Chaldean Archbishop of Tehran, Ramzi Garmou, who said:

The Instrumentum laboris almost ignored the vital importance of monastic and contemplative life for the renewal and the re-awakening of our churches. This form of life that was born in the East, was at the origin of an extraordinary missionary expansion and an admirable witness of our churches during the first centuries. History teaches us that the bishops were chosen among the monks, that is to say men of prayer and with a deep spiritual life, having vast experience in the “things of God”. Today, unfortunately, the choice of bishops does not obey the same criteria and we can see the results which are unfortunately not always happy ones.

The bi-millenary experience of the church confirms to us that prayer is the soul of the mission, it is thanks to this that all the activities of the church are fruitful and bear many fruits. Also, all those who participated in the reform of the church and gave back its innocent beauty and eternal youth were essentially men and women of prayer. For this reason our Lord invites us to pray without ceasing. With regret and bitterness we see that monasteries of contemplative life, source of abundant grace for the people of God, have almost disappeared in our Eastern Churches. What a great loss! How sad!

The Synod will continue until October 24, 2010, and more interventions on the sacred liturgy and related fields can be expected, although it has so far proved to be a marginal topic.

The Pope to the Eastern Churches

The Church was established to be a sign and an instrument of the unique and universal saving project of God among men; She fulfils this mission simply by being herself, that is, "Communion and witness", as it says in the theme of this Synodal Assembly which opens today, referring to Luke's famous definition of the first Christian community: "The whole group of believers was united, heart and soul" (Acts 4:32). Without communion there can be no witness: the life of communion is truly the great witness. Jesus said it clearly: "It is by your love for one another, that everyone will recognize you as my disciples" (Jn 13:35). This communion is the same life of God which is communicated in the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ. It is thus a gift, not something which we ourselves must build through our own efforts. And it is precisely because of this that it calls upon our freedom and waits for our response: communion always requires conversion, just as a gift is better if it is welcomed and utilized. In Jerusalem the first Christians were few. Nobody could have imagined what was going to take place. And the Church continues to live on that same strength which enabled it to begin and to grow. Pentecost is the original event but also a permanent dynamism, and the Synod of Bishops is a privileged moment in which the grace of Pentecost may be renewed in the Church's journey, so that the Good News may be announced openly and heard by all peoples.

Pope Benedict XVI

Homily for the Mass Inaugurating the Special Assembly of the Middle East

October 10, 2010

In this way, the "sacra canones" of the ancient Church, that inspire the Oriental codification in force, stimulate all the Oriental Churches to conserve their own identity, which is simultaneously Eastern and Catholic. In preserving the Catholic communion the Eastern Catholic Churches did not at all intend to deny their own tradition. As has been many times repeated, the full union of the Eastern Catholic Churches with the Church of Rome that is already realized must not lead to a diminution of the consciousness of the unique authenticity and originality of those Churches. For this reason it is the task of all the Eastern Catholic Churches to conserve the common disciplinary patrimony and nourish their own traditions, which is a treasure for the whole Church.

The same "sacri canones" of the first centuries of the Church constitute to a large extent the same basic patrimony of canonical discipline that also regulates the Orthodox Churches. Thus the Eastern Catholic Churches can offer a peculiar and relevant contribution to the ecumenical journey. I am happy that in the course of your symposium you have taken account of this particular aspect and I encourage you to make it an object of further study, cooperating thus for your part to the common effort to adhere to the Lord's prayer: "May all be one ... that the world may believe ..." (John 17:21).

Pope Benedict XVI

Address on the 20th Anniversary of the Promulgation of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches

October 9, 2010

The photo of the church is from this site. The picture of bishops is from Daylife.