Aid to the Church in Need: Pope’s Russia TV triumph

Pope’s Russia TV triumph

Posted by Press release on 22/4/2008, 9:51 am
Message modified by board administrator 7/8/2008, 1:34 pm

ACN News, Tuesday, 22nd April 2008 – RUSSIA

Pope’s Russia TV triumph

Address on state television wins support from across Russia
By John Pontifex

A BROADCAST by Pope Benedict XVI on Russian state television has been hailed as a landmark in Orthodox-Catholic relations.
There has been widespread praise for the programme which featured a biography of the Pope and ended with a short address by the Pope.
Sources close to the Russian Orthodox Church expressed support for the broadcast and the text of the Pope’s address has appeared on Sedmitza, an official website of the Church.
Meantime, the initiative’s organisers described receiving “nothing but very positive feedback” from people who saw the programme on the Vesti news channel on Wednesday (16th April) afternoon and again early the following morning.
Speaking a few days after the broadcast, Peter Humeniuk, Russia expert for Aid to the Church in Need, which funded the initiative, said he was “a little shocked” by the positive reaction to the programme.
Stressing that it was “still early days” since the broadcast, he said: “What we have heard so far is that viewers found Pope Benedict honest and warm. They thought he was a person of great dignity and also enormous sympathy.”
Mr Humeniuk, who spearheaded the initiative, said: “Even the enemies of Catholicism were, I think, a bit surprised to see this presentation of the Pope and how sympathetic a person he is.”
Timed for release on the Pope’s birthday, the broadcast – part of which was in Russian – shows Pope Benedict XVI highlighting the importance of Church unity.
The Pope continues: “Both the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church are moving in this direction.”
He pays tribute to Christians in Russia – both Catholic and Orthodox – describing how over the past 100 years “the shadows of suffering and violence were opposed and overcome by the splendid light of so many martyrs, who perished under the oppression of ferocious persecutions.”
Broadcast to about two-thirds of Russia on Wednesday (16th April) afternoon, the 30-minute programme had huge exposure. Many viewers were from outside Russia with Vesti being described as equivalent to the BBC World Service.
A second, longer version of the broadcast went out on Vesti a few hours later at 1am Moscow time on Thursday (17th April).
Stressing the significance of the programme’s success, the initiative’s organisers described how for years the Catholic Church had been criticised in Russia, with particular criticism directed against the papacy.
Relations between Rome and Moscow have developed significantly since 2002, when the Russian Orthodox hierarchy expressed alarm after the creation of four Catholic dioceses in Russia.
Mr Humeniuk underlined the importance of Benedict XVI’s personal contribution to the programme, describing how his brilliance as a theologian and a thinker is respected in Moscow and has roots dating back to his involvement in the Second Vatican Council.
Mr Humeniuk added: “The broadcast is the latest in a series of positive signs that suggest that the dialogue between Moscow and Rome is becoming more intensive.”
The success of the broadcast is likely to increase speculation of a long-awaited meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and Alexei II, the Moscow-based Russian Orthodox Patriarch.

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Pope’s television address to Russia

Here follows the text of Pope Benedict XVI’s television address to Russia. The original address was given in Italian, except for the last few sentences which were given in Russian. Aid to the Church in Need sponsored the documentary about the Pope’s life, which concluded with this historic speech.

"Dear citizens of the Russian Federation,
I am grateful for the invitation offered me to extend to you my cordial greetings and I gladly take this opportunity to express the esteem, affection and high regard in which the successor of Peter and the Catholic Church have always held your people and the Russian Orthodox Church. Russia is truly great, in a variety of different ways – in her sheer geographical scale, in her long history, in her magnificent spirituality, in her variety of artistic expression. During the past century the horizon of your noble land, like that of other regions on the European continent, was obscured by shadows of suffering and violence, shadows that were, however, opposed and overcome by the splendid light of so many martyrs – Orthodox, Catholics and other believers, who perished under the oppression of ferocious persecutions. The love of Christ even unto martyrdom, which unites them, reminds us of the urgent need to restore unity among Christians, a duty to which the Catholic Church feels herself to be irrevocably committed. Both the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church are moving in this direction. I remember well that a delegation of the Moscow Patriarchate was present at the Second Vatican Council, and I have followed the contacts with Russian Orthodoxy that have taken place since then. In recent years these contacts have been intensifying, especially among the faithful, the priests and the bishops. What are we to say then of the interreligious and intercultural dialogue which is another of the priority commitments of the Catholic Church and also, I believe, of the Russian Orthodox Church? Conscious of the spiritual gift of which they are the stewards and while firmly retaining their own proper identity, Christians are called to meet with the followers of other religions and to establish with them a fruitful dialogue in truth and charity. To this end I pray and hope that the millennial ecclesial experience of Russia may continue to enrich the Christian horizon in a spirit of sincere service to the Gospel and to the men of today. And now a greeting in the Russian language:

I am delighted to be able to address myself, in the Russian language, to the people and government of this great land of Russia, so dear to me. I extend my warmest greetings to our beloved Orthodox brothers and sisters, especially to his Holiness, the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, and also to the Catholic bishops and their communities. To all of you I wish peace and well-being and a spirit of mutual love, and I invoke the blessing of God upon you all".

For more information, please contact the Sydney office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web:www.aidtochurch.org

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