Updated: Pope sends olive branch to French Protestants
VATICAN CITY, MAY 8, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI sent a message to
the
national synod of the Reformation Church of France, the country's main
Protestant community, who thanked the Pontiff for this "gesture of
consideration."
Archbishop Claude Feidt of Aix en Provence, Catholic representative at
the
meeting being held in that city, read the text sent Saturday by the
Vatican
secretariat of state in the Pope's name. The meeting ended today.
In the message, the Pope greeted "cordially all the participants" in
the
synod, "assuring them of his prayers," stated the president of the
synod,
Marcel Manoel.
"It is the first time that our synod has received such a message," the
assembly's president told Agence France-Presse. "We receive it as a
gesture
of consideration."
The synod of the Reformation Church of France has 350,000 members. The
theme
of the assembly is "To Confess Jesus Christ in a Secular Society."
The Reformation Church of France is the main church of the Protestant
Federation of France, which represents some 900,000 people.
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Courtesy: Washington Post/Reuters
By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor
Reuters
Sunday, May 8, 2005; 4:08 AM
PARIS (Reuters) - Pope Benedict extended an olive branch to some of his
harshest critics at the weekend, sending a cordial message to a French
Protestant church and saying he wanted to work toward the unity of all
Christians.
The message to a synod of the Reformed Church of France in the southern
city
of Aix-en-Province was the first papal note ever sent to the French
church's
annual assembly and met with surprise and approval, according to local
media
reports.
The Protestant Federation of France -- of which the Reformed Church is
the
largest member -- stood out among the well-wishers after Benedict's
election
on April 19 by bluntly expressing its concern about him and demanding
"a
sign of ecumenical openness."
It recalled he had dismissed Protestant denominations as "not proper
churches" in an official statement in 2000 when he was Vatican
doctrinal
overseer Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
The Vatican message to the synod said the German-born Pope "cordially
salutes all participants of the Reformed Church of France and assures
them
of his prayers."
Since becoming Pope, Benedict has made frequent statements supporting
inter-religious cooperation, a shift of emphasis from his earlier drive
to
assert a superiority of Catholicism.
"This is an important signal," Pastor Marcel Manoel, head of France's
largest Protestant church, told Europe 1 radio. "Being German, he
understands Protestant churches well."
BROTHER JOINED IN PRAYER
The Reformed Church belongs to the Calvinist tradition of
Protestantism,
traditionally critical of the papacy, and has 300,000 members.
Protestants
make up about 2 percent of the population in historically Catholic
France.
Manoel noted Benedict referred to his denomination as a church rather
than
an "ecclesiastical community," a phrase he had earlier used that hinted
it
was inferior to Catholicism.
"We appreciate that this message comes from someone who presents
himself as
a brother and joins us in prayer," he said, according to the Paris
daily Le
Monde.
Before receiving the message, which was sent by Vatican Deputy
Secretary of
State Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, Manoel told his church he feared the
secret conclave that elected Benedict, 78, had succumbed to a
temptation to
avoid change.
This amounted to "resistance by some against important advances in the
life
of the Roman Catholic Church that many of its theologians and pastors
have
nonetheless demanded."
Benedict offended Protestants in 2000 with a document entitled Dominus
Iesus
(Lord Jesus) which argued they did not have churches in the proper
sense
because they broke from Rome.
This set back efforts at the ecumenical dialogue the Vatican has
fostered
since the Second Vatican Council of 1962-1965.
The French Protestant Federation's blunt statement at his election
branded
the new Pope as "the man of Dominus Iesus and non-recognition of other
churches."
In his first address as Pope, Benedict said he was "willing to do
everything
in my power to promote the fundamental cause of ecumenism ... and am
fully
determined to accept every initiative that seems opportune to promote
contact and understanding."