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ask myself if it is not urgent,"
said the pope in St. Paul's Church in
Ankara, "precisely today when
Christians a nd Moslems have en–
tered in a new period of history, to
recognize and develop the spiritual
bonds that unite us in order to pro–
tect and promote together, for all
men, as we have been invited todo by
the Vatican Council, social justice,
moral values, peace and liberty."
While the Vatiéan broke new
ground at the 1965 Second Ecumeni–
cal Council by expressing "esteem"
for Moslems who worship a single
God, John Paul went a step further in
his first visit to a Moslem country.
Quoting both the Koran and the
Bible to prove his point, Pope J ohn
Paul carefully demonstrated that
Christians, Moslems, and Jews trace
their spiritual descent from t he
prophet Abraham. Moslem venera–
tion· of J esus as a prophet and honor–
ing óf the Virgin Mary also provide a
common ground .
An lstanbul Moslem leader ob–
served: "T he pope's appeal is five
minutes to midnight. We are now at
the crossroads. Islam and Christian–
ity can work together for the greater ·
glory of our common God or we
could end up in the fratricida! con–
frontation of the crusades. This city
[ lstanbul ) was ransacked by the Cru–
saders. Later, Turkey became the
sword of Islam and conquered Eu–
rope.
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pray this will never happen
again.
"Ónly the pope can give the
Westero world a proper understand–
ing of Islam. Our lslamic faith still
runs our daily lives like Christianity
used to run the Christian Iife not so
long ago. l'm confident the pope is
now presiding over the renewal of
faith in God which is now sweeping
the world ."
It is a little-known fact that the
late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia
helped open the way to an under–
standing between Catholics and
Moslems with a message he sent to
Pope Paul VI in 1966: "We both
believe in one God, we both venerate
the Blessed Mary. Islam and the
Church must pool their strength to
thwart evil and atheism."
All Ro ads Lead to Rome
1
t is impossi ble tp separate the ecu–
menical movement from the central
February 1980
pos1t10n of the Roman Cathol ic
Church and the papacy itself. [n one
way or another all roads lead back to
Rome. This is true, despite the state–
ment of Pope Paul VI in 1967 that
"the pope-as we all know- is
undoubtedly the gravest obstacje in
the path of ecumeJlism."
Before the election of the popular
John Paul II, an American Episco–
palian official residing in Rome said:
"The pope is the symbol of the unity
of Christianity, and his personal atti–
tude sets the pattern for the way
Catholics and Protestants think of
each other, in their mutual regard
and acceptance."
In recent years many non-Catho–
lics have changed their views toward
Catholicism and the papacy. Protes–
tants stiU generally reject the Catho–
lic claim that the popes descend i-n
line from apostolic times. However
they are more willing to admit now
the need for sorne form of "universal
ministry" as a part of a more unified
church structure. T he term which
has been suggested is that of an
"ecumenical papacy."
In the light of this new emphasis,
the framers of the joint 1974 Luther–
an-Roman Catholic Consultation
(LRCC) statement could say to–
gether: "There is a growing aware–
ness among Lutherans of the neces–
sity of a specific ministry to serve the
church's unity and universal mission,
while Catholics increasingly see the
need for a more nuanced understand–
ing of the role of the papacy within
the universal church."
What would it mean in concrete
terms for a present-day pope to func–
tion as the spokesman for the entire
Christian professing world?
This question was asked not long
ago in a perceptive article in the
Reman Catholic magazine,
St. An–
thony's Messenger,
entitled "Can
We Have a Pope for All Christians?"
T he author, Karen Hurley, answered
her question .in this manner:
"First of all, the pope would con–
tinue in his traditional role as head of
the Roman Catholic communion.
But, in addition, he would exercise
another type of leadership to the
larger Christian community. [Ro–
man Catholic theologian George)
Tavard speculates about what this
might mean: 'Perhaps calling an
annual meeting of the leaders of most
cburches to study the present situa–
tion in the world.' . ..
"What effect could such shared
leadership with the pope possibly
have?
'lf
there were that kind of
leadership [says Tavard], something
like the massacre in Northern Ire–
land probably would have to be
looked at in a different way by both
t he Catholics and the Presbyterians
in Northern lreland.' "
How wou ld Catholics generally
view such a development in the direc–
tion of an "ecumenical pope"? An–
swers author Hurley:
"Catholics are not being asked to
see the pope as
/ess.
Rather, we are
being asked to see the pope as
even
more- not
justa pope for Catholics,
but a leader for the entire Christian
world."
T heologian George Tavard, who
was actively involved in the LRCC
deliberations, is optimistic that the
final ecumenical hurdles can be over–
come. He stressed the importance of
the personality of the man who would
be such an "ecumenical pope."
"What is essential is: someone who
can really speak the word of the
gospel in a world situation. Most of
everything else can be abandoned or
adjusted."
But Can They Agree on the Gospel?
Chu rch unity
is
painstakingly com–
ing to professing Christianity. A re–
unified church could then move in
concert with other great religions of
the world-and governments as
well- in an effort to achieve world
peace. Certainly one giant religious
figure inevitably will stand out as a
worldwide "spiritual spokesman."
But could the component parts of
this ecumenical movement agree on
what is the Gospel? Is the Gospel
only the
messageabout
Jesus Christ?
Or the message of the Kingdom of
God that Christ
brought-and
was
killed for delivering? And just what
is the Gospel of the Kingdom of
God?
Do
you
know what the Gospel
entails?
If
not, or if you're n6t sure,
or never thought you really needed to
know, send for our fre·e booklet,
"What is the True Cospel?"
Knowledge of what the true Gos–
pel is will enable you to see clearly
the direction in which the ecumenical
movement is headed. o
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