Intolerance towards Catholics continues. (Russia).Moscow--A Catholic bishop, Polish-born Jerzy Masur, of Irkutsk, Siberia, and a priest, Fr. Stefano Caprio, were recently expelled from Russia through the cancellation of their visas. Also, the Russian Duma duma (d  `mä), Russian name for a representative body, particularly applied to the Imperial Duma established as a result of the Russian Revolution of 1905. has appealed to President Vladimir Putin to close the four Catholic dioceses, while a video address by the Pope beamed into Moscow's Catholic Cathedral by satellite was deemed "an invasion" by the Russian Orthodox Adj. 1. Russian Orthodox - of or relating to or characteristic of the Eastern Orthodox ChurchEastern Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Orthodox faith, religion, religious belief - a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny; "he Patriarch Alexei II. These actions came in the wake of a consolidated Catholic presence in post-Communist Russia, heightened by the Pope's action to restore four pre-1917 Catholic dioceses (see C.I., April '02, p.24). But, being careful to respect Orthodox sensibilities and the ancient principle of "one city -- one bishop", the Pope named the dioceses for saints and not for the cities themselves. The Russian Orthodox sees the restoration of the dioceses not as an administrative action, but as further evidence of Catholic "proselytism pros·e·ly·tism n. 1. The practice of proselytizing. 2. The state of being a proselyte. pros " in an Orthodox land. In February, Cardinal Walter Kasper Cardinal Walter Kasper (born 5 March 1933 in Heidenheim an der Brenz) is a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He currently serves as President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in the Roman Curia, and Cardinal Deacon of , president of the Vatican's Council for Promoting Christian Unity, was refused entry to Russia. And at the moment other representatives of the Vatican are also denied entry. Cardinal Kasper, together with the Russian Catholic prelates, has emphasized that the Catholic Church has no intention of actively seeking converts from the Orthodox faith, but rather seeks to provide pastoral care to Russian Catholics and catechesis cat·e·che·sis n. pl. cat·e·che·ses Oral instruction given to catechumens. [Late Latin cat to those unbelievers who seek union with Rome. He emphatically maintains that the Church instituted by Christ is universal and should never be subdivided by territorial claims. The Orthodox Church, on the other hand, maintains its "right" to reserve all of Russia for itself, an ideological claim that Kasper rejects. Such territorial claims, said the Cardinal, are not theological and eventually lead to an "ecclesial Ec`cle´si`al a. 1. Ecclesiastical. heresy" that sees Churchs' missions confined by cultural and ethnic identities. "As long as the Russian Orthodox Church Russian Orthodox Church: see Orthodox Eastern Church. Russian Orthodox Church Eastern Orthodox church of Russia, its de facto national church. In 988 Prince Vladimir of Kiev (later St. is anchored to these ideological positions, it cannot begin a constructive dialogue with modern society and with the Catholic Church," the Cardinal said to La Civilta Catolica (Catholic Civilization) of Rome (Nat. Cath. Reg., March 24/02). Following the expulsions, there is fear and uncertainty among the Catholic faithful, of about 600,000. |
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