MESSAGE TO PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE ON ST. ANDREW'S FEAST

VATICAN CITY, NOV 30, 1996 (VIS) - On the occasion of the feast of St. Andrew, a Holy See delegation went to Istanbul, Turkey, as is customary every year, to participate in the celebrations for the Apostle, patron of the ecumenical patriarchate, and attended a solemn Mass in the cathedral of St. George in Fanar.

Cardinal Edward I. Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and head of the Holy See delegation, brought a message from John Paul II for the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I. A delegation from the patriarchate usually comes to Rome on June 29, Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.

In his message in French, dated November 26, the Holy Father writes that "the dialogue undertaken up to now is a way given to us to reaffirm together, before the whole world, and before all Christians, our will to make a big effort to re-establish our full communion, from which spring so many gifts for the Church of Christ".

"Today, at the threshold of the third millennium of our history, we hope that the Christian communities, with their faith and their yearning for the salvation of humanity, will always be open to the call of the Spirit, who directs all Christians towards full and visible unity. On account of the nature of the communion existing already between us, we must pray more intensely and continue our search with perseverance."
MASS/ST.ANDREW/ISTANBUL:CASSIDY:BARTHOLOMEW I VIS 961202 (260)