Add Zoghby response

src/page/ecumen/cdf-1997-zoghby.md

@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+---
+title: Letter from Rome on Zoghby Proposal
+date: 1997-06-11
+author: Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
+source: https://orthocath.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/1997_letter_from_rome_on_zoghby_initiative-11.pdf
+---
+
+**Congregation for the Eastern Churches Prot. No. 251/75**  
+**June 11, 1997**  
+**His Beatitude Maximos V HAKIM**  
+**Greek-Melkite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and of all the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem**
+
+Your Beatitude,
+
+Word of the project for a rapprochement between the Greek-Melkite Catholic Patriarchate and
+the Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch has been widely noted and given rise to much public
+discussion.
+
+The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, and
+the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity have striven to familiarize themselves and examine
+with care those aspects that lie within their respective competence; the heads of these Dicasteries
+have further been charged by the Holy Father to share some observations with Your Beatitude.
+
+The Holy See follows with great interest and wishes to encourage initiatives that could ease the
+way to a complete reconciliation of the Christian Churches. It recognizes the imperatives behind
+the decades-long effort of the Greek-Melkite Catholic Patriarchate aimed at promoting the
+realization of this sought-for fullness of communion. The Code of Canon Law for the Eastern
+Churches recognizes in this a duty for every Christian (Can. 902), that becomes for the Eastern
+Catholic Churches a special munus (Can. 903), to be pursued according to "*normis specialibus*
+*iuris particularis moderante eundem motum Sede Apostolica Romana pro universa Ecclesia*"
+["by the special norms of particular law, the Apostolic Roman See directing the movement for
+the entire Church"] (Can. 904).
+
+This is all the more valid for two communities that see themselves as especially tied to one
+another from their common origin and shared ecclesial tradition, as well as through a long
+experience of joint initiatives, placing them without a doubt in a privileged state of closeness.
+
+It is the wish of the Church that appropriate ways and means be found to proceed in future along
+the path of fraternal agreement, and through the assistance of new forms that would allow the
+further realization of progress towards full communion.
+
+Your Patriarchate, in pursuing such goals, is spurred by the sensitivity, the situational
+understanding, and the experience that are uniquely its own. The Holy See intends to aid this
+process through the formulation of a few observations that it believes could contribute to a future
+furthering of the initiative.
+
+The responsible Dicasteries broadly welcome joint pastoral initiatives between Catholics and
+Orthodox, undertaken as proposed in the Directory for the Application of the Principles and
+Norms on Ecumenism, most particularly in the fields of Christian formation, education, common
+charitable endeavours, and shared prayer when this is possible.
+
+Specifically with respect to theological heritage, one must proceed with patience and prudence,
+and without precipitation, in order to assist both parties in following a shared path.
+
+A first dimension of this sharing concerns the language and categories used in the dialogue: one
+has to apply the greatest care that the common use of a word, or of a concept, not lend itself to
+differing points of view or interpretations of a historical or doctrinal nature, nor to any form of
+over simplification.
+
+A second dimension necessitates that the sharing of the contents of the dialogue not be limited
+solely to the two direct interlocutors, the Greek-Melkite Catholic and Orthodox Antiochian
+Patriarchates, but that it should also implicate the wider Confessions with which the two
+Patriarchates are in full communion: the Catholic Communion for the former, and the Orthodox
+Communion for the latter. The Orthodox ecclesiastical authorities in the Patriarchate of Antioch
+have, in any case, highlighted analogous concerns. This more comprehensive participation would
+also help ensure that initiatives aimed at promoting full communion at the local level do not give
+rise to misunderstandings or suspicions, even with the best of intentions.
+
+Let us now turn to the terms of the profession of faith of his Excellence Mgr. Elias Zoghby,
+Greek-Melkite Catholic Archbishop emeritus of Baalbeck, signed in February 1995, and to
+which many prelates of the Greek-Melkite Catholic Synod have subscribed.
+
+It is evident that this Patriarchate forms an integral part of the Christian East whose patrimony it
+shares. With respect to the declaration on the part of Greek-Melkite Catholics of complete
+adherence to the teachings of Eastern Orthodoxy, one must keep in mind the fact that the
+Orthodox Churches are today not yet in full communion with the Church of Rome, and that this
+adherence is thus not possible so long as there is not from both sides an identity of professed and
+practiced faith. Furthermore, a correct formulation of the faith requires reference not only to a
+particular Church, but to the whole of the Church of Christ that is limited in neither space nor
+time.
+
+With respect to communion with the Bishops of Rome, one must not forget that doctrine relating
+to the primacy of the Roman Pontiff has been the subject of some development within the
+elaboration of the Church's faith through the ages, and that it must thus be upheld in its entirety
+from its origins all the way to the present day. One need only reflect on what the First Vatican
+Council affirms and on what has been declared at the Second Vatican Council, particularly in
+NN. 22 and 23 of the Dogmatic Constitution *Lumen Gentium* and in N. 2 of the Decree on
+Ecumenism *Unitatis Redintegratio*.
+
+As to the ways in which the Petrine ministry could be exercised today, an issue distinct from that
+of doctrine, it is true that the Holy Father has recently reminded us all how it is possible to
+"seek—together, of course—the forms in which this ministry may accomplish a service of love
+recognized by all concerned" (*Ut unum sint*, 95): but while it is also legitimate to approach the
+issue at the local level, there is a duty to do so always in communion with a view to the universal
+Church. In this regard, it would in any case be appropriate to recall that "the Catholic Church,
+both in her *praxis* and in her solemn documents, holds that the communion of the particular
+Churches with the Church of Rome, and of their Bishops with the Bishop of Rome, is—in God's
+plan—an essential requisite of full and visible communion" (*Ut unum sint*, 97).
+
+As to the various aspects of *communio in sacris*, an ongoing dialogue will have to be maintained
+in order to explore the rationale underlying the respective norms currently in effect, and this in
+light of the theological assumptions that underlie them; in this way premature unilateral 
+initiatives or eventual outcomes that would not have pondered sufficiently might be avoided:
+these could lead to significant negative consequences, including with respect to other Eastern
+Catholics, most especially to those living within the same region.
+
+All in all, the fraternal dialogue pursued by the Greek-Melkite Patriarchate will contribute all the
+more to the path of ecumenism insofar as it strives to include in the development of new
+sensibilities the whole Catholic Church to which it belongs. There is a good basis for believing
+that Orthodoxy also shares this concern, and this largely also in consideration of the
+requirements for communion within its own body.
+
+The Dicasteries concerned are ready to offer their collaboration in furthering this exchange of
+reflections and clarifications; they further express their satisfaction with the meetings held so far
+on this subject with representatives of the Greek-Melkite Catholic Church, and both hope and
+wish to see these exchanges maintained and deepened in future.
+
+Fully recognizing that Your Beatitude will wish to share these reflections, please accept the
+expression of our fraternal and cordial regards.
+
+Joseph Card. Ratzinger  
+Achille Card. Silvestrini  
+Edward Card. Cassidy

src/page/ecumen/index.md

@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ Any errors are my own.
 * North American Consultation — [Conciliarity and Primacy](./naoctc-1989-primacy.html)
 * Joint International Dialogue — [Balamand document](./jictd-1993-balamand.html)
 * North American Consultation — [Response to Balamand](./naoctc-1994-balamand.html)
+* Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — [Response to the Zoghby Proposal](./cdf-1997-zoghby.md)
 
 ## 2000s