Author:
Publication: ZENIT.org
Date: April 30, 2001
At least one theologian is optimistic
about the outcome of the Pope's visit to Athens, Greece, this Wednesday
and Thursday.
"The atmosphere is hostile, but
John Paul II's trip will leave a profound mark," said Greek-Catholic theologian
and Capuchin friar Yannis Spiteris. "It will serve to demystify the anti-papal
climate rooted in Greece for centuries."
In recent days, protests in Greece
have mounted against the Pope's visit. Orthodox monks at Mount Athos have
held a prayer vigil to ward off the Pope's arrival.
Cardinal Ignace Moussa Daoud, who
normally would accompany the Pontiff as prefect of the Holy See's Congregation
for Oriental or Eastern Churches, will not be with John Paul II after certain
leaders of the Greek Orthodox Church said "no" to his presence in the papal
entourage. The newly created cardinal, former patriarch of Antioch for
Syrian Catholics, is persona non grata to many Orthodox because he is an
Eastern Catholic.
In the following interview with
the Vatican agency Fides, Father Spiteris spoke about what awaits the Pope.
--Q: How did the Pope's idea to
visit Athens develop?
--Father Spiteris: Before the Jubilee,
in his letter "Pilgrimage to the Places Linked with the History of Salvation,"
Pope John Paul II expressed his desire to visit the Areopagus where St.
Paul the Apostle once preached.
The Catholic Church made an official
request but the Greek Orthodox Church refused under various pretexts. The
Holy Synod said the Pope would have to ask forgiveness for offenses committed
by Catholics in history, for the Fourth Crusade in 1204; he would have
to withdraw some Catholic truths of faith, in other words, convert to Orthodoxy,
or come as a head of state.
The visit seemed impossible. But
earlier this year when Greek President Stephanopoulos visited the Pope
in Rome, he invited him to come to Athens. The Orthodox Church had little
choice. To avoid clashes with the government the Holy Synod agreed, making
clear with a public statement that the Pope of Rome was coming as a head
of state to make a personal pilgrimage.
--Q: What are the historical facts
at the root of this opposition?
--Father Spiteris: Greek Orthodoxy
has always rejected the West, since the time of the Byzantine Empire. Before
the fall of Constantinople in 1453 there was a saying: "Better the Turkish
turban than the Papal tiara."
Schoolbooks are still full of resentment.
Children are brought up to hate the Catholic Church. There is a collective
anti-Catholic, anti-Pope culture. Anti-Catholic atmosphere became more
acute recently with the question of Oriental Catholics and the recent war
in the Balkans.
Greek Catholics, who have existed
for centuries, have never been accepted by the Greek Orthodox community.
In 1900 under Stalin they were incorporated into the Orthodox Church. With
the fall of Communism they reclaimed their properties, which had been confiscated
by the state. The Orthodox consider them traitors, the result of Catholic
proselytism.
During the Balkan war the Orthodox
Church supported Serbia. Milosevic has property and money in Greece. They
even accused the Pope of supplying arms to the Muslims to fight "our Serb
brothers." Greece has always felt persecuted by the West.
--Q: What are the main problems
at the theological level?
In theology the most serious difficulty
is that Orthodox bishops and theologians do not recognize Catholic sacraments
as valid, whereas the Catholic Church does recognize those of the Orthodox
Church, considered a "sister Church," as Vatican II stated.
For the Orthodox, unless the Church
believes in the "full truth of faith," its sacraments cannot be valid.
The bishop of Corfu says the Church of Rome is a "worldly organization."
Other problems are the "filioque" in the Creed, that is, whether the Holy
Spirit descends from the Father or from the Father and the Son; the primacy
of the Pope; Marian dogmas of the second millennium.
--Q: Are there other reasons?
These historical and theological
problems could be overcome if the Greek Orthodox Church were not divided
and polluted by fundamentalism. Radicals refuse ecumenism, dialogue, the
sister-Church concept; they see the Pope as the root of all evil. Many
Orthodox bishops think they are more Orthodox if they are more anti-Catholic.
There are para-church organizations
which oppose even the official Orthodox Church, besides being strongly
anti-Catholic. The archbishop of Athens fears the latter may take advantage
of the papal visit to attack the official Orthodox Church and gain ground.
There are those who refuse the new
Gregorian calendar accepted by the Greek Church and government at the beginning
of 1900. They are about 1 million and they are separate from the official
Church and have their own bishops. This old-calendar Church claims that
its numbers are growing, thanks to conversions of Orthodox faithful. The
archbishop of Athens was not in favor of the Pope's visit, fearing it might
accentuate the divisions in the Orthodox Church.
--Q: What do the people think?
--Father Spiteris: There are 45,000
native Greek Catholics and with Poles, Filipinos, Italians they are about
200,000. We are considered second-rate citizens. We do not have the same
rights as the Orthodox; we suffer discrimination, despite the constitution.
Many are afraid to baptize their
children as Catholics, because of the difficulties they will encounter
in life. There are still hidden Catholics, which is absurd in a democratic
country, a member of the European Union.
For us the Pope's visit will be
a source of great encouragement and comfort. The Pope is aware of the sufferings
of Greek Catholics. We love our homeland and we suffer because we are not
recognized as true sons and daughters of Greece.
--Q: Why is this?
--Father Spiteris: Greeks are always
Orthodox; Catholics are "foreigners." Religion is identified with nationality.
This is why the Orthodox Church insisted that religion should remain on
identity papers. This linking of the state with religion is a legacy from
Byzantine times. The empire was seen as an exterior form of the Church,
the emperor was the vicar of Christ.
Still today, Orthodox Church laws
are published in the official state bulletin. This is why Catholics have
no rights; the Catholic Church in Greece has no juridical status. The battle
went as far as the European Court in Strasbourg, and the Catholic Church
in Greece won. The Greek government had to accept the European Court's
ruling and recognize the properties of the Greek Catholic Church, although
without granting it juridical status.
Greece wants to be a modern secular
state. President Stephanopoulos is open-minded and has great moral intelligence,
although he is opposed by the New Democracy, which focuses on nationalism.
The Catholic Church in Greece must
play the game of the European Union, pushing for a secular, free, independent
and modern state. The Orthodox Church despises Europe, but accepts its
funds, welcoming a recent EU contribution for the upkeep of the Mount Athos
shrine.