Jonathan Luxmoore - 1/1/14 The Tablet Russia's Orthodox Patriarch has condemned suicide bomb attacks in Volgograd, blaming them on foreigners "captive to dark forces". Following the twin suicide bomb blasts on Sunday and Monday, which left 31 dead and dozens injured, Patriarch Kirill said in a telegram to the city's governor: “Death and mutilation have been sown by terrorists coming ...
Jonathan Luxmoore - 24/12/13 OXFORD, England (CNS) -- The Catholic Church in Russia predicted a "steady improvement" in ties with the predominant Orthodox Church after a visit by Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. "Catholic-Orthodox relations have improved markedly in recent years, and this visit is the latest step toward strengthening ...
Jonathan Luxmoore 4/4/2012 (ENInews). The spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians has written to Greece's Orthodox state church, deploring anti-ecumenical statements by its leaders. "Critical voices about ecumenism, long heard in the bosom of the church of Greece, have hitherto been limited in scope - but what has occurred recently has reached unacceptable levels," said Ecumenical Patriarch ...
By Jonathan Luxmoore 17/11/2011 The head of Austria’s Roman Catholic church has agreed to give one of his parish churches to Orthodox Christians, after an appeal against the decision by local Catholics was rejected by the Vatican on 11 November. In October 2011, Cardinal Christoph Schonborn said he had decided to merge two neighboring parishes in Vienna so ...
By Jonathan Luxmoore 25/7/2011 Warsaw, Poland, July 25 (ENInews)--Christian organizations in Belgium have had mixed reactions to a criminal code amendment making the country Europe's second to ban the Islamic veil, or burqa. "We're against this ruling, since it violates basic human rights," said Kristine Jansone, general secretary of the Brussels-based Ecumenical Youth Council in Europe. "Although I ...
By Jonathan Luxmoore ENInews 27/6/2011 Orthodox churches remain "fully committed" to ecumenical cooperation, despite recent disagreements with Protestants, according to a senior Orthodox theologian. "It may appear that some Orthodox churches aren't satisfied over moral and ethical issues, and this may bring them closer as a family of churches. But we shouldn't necessarily see this as a form ...
By Jonathan Luxmoore 31/5/2011 Warsaw, Poland (ENInews)--A senior ecumenist has welcomed growing co-operation between leaders of European institutions and churches, and predicted a growing advisory role for religious communities. "I think we're seeing a greater openness today than ever before," said Rudiger Noll, director of the Church and Society Commission of the Conference of European Churches (CEC). ...