Read Online The Life and Legacy of Pope John Paul II by Wyatt North - Free Book Online

Church was established to work towards full communion, the goal of which was common celebration of the Eucharist.
     
    Patriarch Dimitrios paid a return visit to Rome, but not until 1987. This delay would seem to indicate that the patriarch did not place as high a premium on reunification as the pope. Apparent foot-dragging notwithstanding, delegations from both Sees routinely visited each other for their respective celebrations.
     
    One outcome of those discussions was recognition of the Eastern Catholic Church’s right to its own organization and apostolate. This was meant to smooth relations between Eastern Catholics (already in full communion with the Catholic Church) and Orthodox living in the same territories. The pope claimed a lessening of tensions as a result.
     
    John Paul was able to further relations with a number of other leaders of Eastern Churches, including Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Orthodox Church; the Syrian Patriarch of Antioch, Mor Ignatius Zakka I; and the Venerable Patriarch of the Ethiopian Church, Abuna Paulos. He was also able to sign a common Christological declaration with the Assyrian Patriarch of the East, Mar Dinkha IV.
    In May 1999, he visited Romania on the invitation of Patriarch Teoctist Arapasu of the Romanian Orthodox Church, the first time a pope had visited a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the so-called Great Schism in 1054. He followed this up with a visit in June 2001 to the Ukraine, where he spoke to leaders of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations.
    To his disappointment, the Russian Orthodox Church continued to be resistant to Vatican overtures, and he was never able to visit either Russia or Belorus. At the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where each Church has staked out its inch of turf and hostilities are open and raw, the aged Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem, Diodorus, personally kept the pope from using the main entrance.
    Nevertheless, John Paul was willing to endure personal humiliation for the sake of his goal. In 2001, he visited Greece, becoming the first pope to visit in nearly 1300 years. Archbishop Christodoulos, the leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, had been pressured by his government into receiving the pope, and he wasn’t happy about it. The Archbishop observed that many of his faithful were opposed to the pope being there, and he presented John Paul with a list of “thirteen offences” made by the Catholic Church against the Orthodox Church since the Great Schism, including the horrible sack of Christian Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204. The Archbishop then pointed out that no apology had ever been made for any of these offences. John Paul then asked for pardon. The delighted Archbishop clapped his hands. (Actually, he had been told before the trip that the pope planned to apologize.) Thereafter, the two issued a joint statement that included a condemnation of violence in the name of religion, and they prayed the Lord’s Prayer together in private, breaking an Orthodox prohibition on praying with Catholics.
    Meeting with such far-flung figures gave the pope a joy somewhat analogous to the biblical ingathering of the exiles.

John Paul II and Buddhism
     

In 1984, the pope conducted Mass in Bangkok, Thailand, where he praised “the fruits of the ‘peaceable’ and ‘gentle’ wisdom” of Thai Buddhism and the “spiritual quality” of the Thai people. Similarly, during a visit to Sri Lanka in 1995, the pope spoke of his high regard for Buddhists and the virtues of Buddhism, and he affirmed his desire for interreligious dialogue and cooperation.
     
    John Paul he met with the fourteenth Dalai Lama eight times. Since both religious leaders came from Communist-repressed societies, it was to be expected they would have much to discuss. Nevertheless, the Vatican tended to downplay such meetings because of its desire to improve relations with China, a fact the Dalai Lama understood and acknowledged. While