Tag: Vatican

  • PRIZE TO GULEN FROM THE U.S.

    PRIZE TO GULEN FROM THE U.S.

    EWIA well-respected think thank in the U.S., the EastWest Institute (EWI), gave a 2011 Peace Prize to Fethullah Gulen.

    Mustafa Yesil, Chairman of the Reporters and Authors Foundation accepted the prize on behalf of Fethullah Gulen. In a message which Gulen sent to be read at the prize ceremony, he says he is accepting the prize not for himself but for the volunteers from different nations, different religions who are doing tehir best for the humanity.

    National Security Advisor General James Jones and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were among the Board Members of EWI.

    gazetevatan.com, 12.05.2011

    Vice-Chairman, Board of Directors of the EastWest Institute is Armen Sarkissian

    Dr. Armen Sarkissian was Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia (1996-1997), now serves as founding president of Eurasia House International.

    Dr. Armen Sarkissian was Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia (1996-1997), now serves as founding president of Eurasia House International.

    Dr. Sarkissian formerly served as Ambassador of Armenia (1991-1999) to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and The Vatican, as well as Head of Mission of the Republic of Armenia to the EU and NATO (1995-96).

    Since 1999 he is Director of the Eurasia Programme at the Judge Institute of Management, Cambridge University’s Business School, with expertise in state-building structures and free market transition processes in CIS countries. He is Co-founder of Eurasia House International in London.

    Dr. Sarkissian has published numerous articles on economic transition in the former Soviet Union and is the author of three books and over 50 articles on computer modelling of complex system and theoretical physics. He has been a Professor of Physics at Yerevan State University, the School of Mathematical Sciences, University of London, and Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, as well as Head of the Department of Computer Modelling of Complex Systems at YSU.

    Dr. Sarkissian holds honorary and executive positions in numerous international organisations, including Member of the Board of Directors of East West Institute, Member of Editorial Board of Russia In Global Politics (foreign affairs journal), and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary & Westfield College, London University. Most recently he was invited by the World Economic Forum in Davos to speak in various panels.

  • University opens Ottoman maps exhibition in Vatican

    University opens Ottoman maps exhibition in Vatican

    A Turkish university inaugurated an exhibition of maps drawn by two Ottoman geographers in the Vatican on Tuesday.

    piri reis katip celebi

    The Civilization Studies Center of İstanbul’s Bahçeşehir University opened “The Ottoman Worldview from Piri Reis to Katip Çelebi” exhibition at the Palazzo della Cancelleria in the Vatican in coordination with Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The exhibition will stay open until Dec. 8.

    The exhibition displays reproductions of maps drawn and used during the Ottoman era, until the end of the 17th century. The maps will shed light on the Ottoman worldview. Despite being prepared in the traditional style, the works of Piri Reis are portolan maps based on his personal experience, observations and earlier maps from the East and West. Although they lack longitude and latitude lines, they are as precise as scientific maps for practical naval purposes since they have a projection center and are adjusted for variation.

    After the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared 2009 the Year of Katip Çelebi, the exhibition was staged at the California State University at San Bernardino, UNESCO Hall in Paris and the Damascus National Museum as well as in Aleppo and Riga. The exhibition will also be on display in Europe, America, the Middle East and Central Asia in the coming months.

    An Ottoman-Turkish geographer and cartographer born between 1465 and 1470 in Gelibolu, in western Turkey, Piri Reis is primarily known today for his maps and charts collected in his “Kitab-ı Bahriye” (Book of Navigation), a book that contains detailed information on navigation as well as extremely accurate charts describing the important ports and cities of the Mediterranean Sea.

    He gained fame as a cartographer when a small part of his first world map (prepared in 1513) was discovered in 1929 at Topkapı Palace in İstanbul. The most surprising aspect was the presence of the Americas on an Ottoman map, making it the oldest known Turkish map showing the New World, and one of the oldest maps of America still in existence. (The oldest known map of America that is still extant today is the map drawn by Juan de la Cosa in 1500, which is held by the Naval Museum [Museo Naval] of Madrid.)

    The most striking characteristic of the first world map (1513) of Piri Reis, however, is the level of accuracy in positioning the continents (particularly the relation between Africa and South America), which was unparalleled for its time. Even maps drawn decades later did not have such accurate positioning and proportions. In 1528 Piri Reis drew a second world map, of which a small fragment showing Greenland and North America from Labrador and Newfoundland in the north to Florida, Cuba and parts of Central America in the south still survives.

    An Ottoman scholar, historian and geographer, Katip Çelebi is known for his encyclopedic contributions, a bibliographical dictionary in the Arabic language, with over 14,500 entries in alphabetical order. This work served as a basis for the “Bibliothèque Orientale” by Barthélemy d’Herbelot de Molainville. He was also the author of many works in the fields of geography, history and economics.

  • Papal Note to Bartholomew I on Feast of St. Andrew

    Papal Note to Bartholomew I on Feast of St. Andrew

    The message was delivered by Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, who led a delegation from the Holy See to participate in the celebrations in Istanbul.

    * * *

    To His Holiness Bartholomaios I

    Archbishop of Constantinople

    Ecumenical Patriarch

    It is with great joy that I write this letter to you, to be delivered by my Venerable Brother Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, on the occasion of the Feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle, brother of Saint Peter and Patron of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in order to wish Your Holiness and the Members of the Holy Synod, the clergy, the monks and all the faithful an abundance of heavenly gifts and divine blessings.

    On this joyful feast-day, in union with all my Catholic brothers and sisters, I join you in giving thanks to God for the wonders he has worked, in his infinite mercy, through the mission and martyrdom of Saint Andrew. By generously offering their lives in sacrifice for the Lord and for their brethren, the Apostles proved the credibility of the Good News that they proclaimed to the ends of the known world. The Feast of the Apostle, which falls on this day in the liturgical calendars of both East and West, issues a strong summons to all those who by God’s grace and through the gift of Baptism have accepted that message of salvation to renew their fidelity to the Apostolic teaching and to become tireless heralds of faith in Christ through their words and the witness of their lives.

    In modern times, this summons is as urgent as ever and it applies to all Christians. In a world marked by growing interdependence and solidarity, we are called to proclaim with renewed conviction the truth of the Gospel and to present the Risen Lord as the answer to the deepest questions and spiritual aspirations of the men and women of our day.

    If we are to succeed in this great task, we need to continue our progress along the path towards full communion, demonstrating that we have already united our efforts for a common witness to the Gospel before the people of our day. For this reason I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Your Holiness and to the Ecumenical Patriarchate for the generous hospitality offered last October on the island of Rhodes to the Delegates of the Catholic Episcopal Conferences of Europe who came together with representatives of the Orthodox Churches in Europe for the Second Catholic-Orthodox Forum on the theme “Church-State Relations: Theological and Historical Perspectives”.

    Your Holiness, I am following attentively your wise efforts for the good of Orthodoxy and for the promotion of Christian values in many international contexts. Assuring you of a remembrance in my prayers on this Feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle, I renew my good wishes for peace, well-being and abundant spiritual blessings to you and to all the faithful.

    With sentiments of esteem and spiritual closeness, I gladly extend to you a fraternal embrace in the name of our one Lord Jesus Christ.

    From the Vatican, 30 November 2010

    BENEDICTUS PP XVI

    via Catholic.net – Catholics on the net.

  • Vatican synod mulls Middle East Christian exodus

    Vatican synod mulls Middle East Christian exodus

    Reuters – Worshippers light candles after attending a weekly mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Baghdad October …

    By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor Thu Oct 7, 6:26 am ET

    PARIS (Reuters) – With Christianity dwindling in its Middle Eastern birthplace, Pope Benedict has convened Catholic bishops from the region to debate how to save its minority communities and promote harmony with their Muslim neighbors.

    For two weeks starting on Sunday, the bishops will discuss problems for the faithful ranging from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and strife in Iraq to radical Islamism, economic crisis and the divisions among the region’s many Christian churches.

    They come from local churches affiliated with the Vatican, but the relentless exodus of all Christians — Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants — has prompted them to take a broad look at the challenges facing all followers of Jesus there.

    While conditions for Christians vary from country to country, the overall picture is dramatic. Christians made up around 20 percent of the region’s population a century ago, but now account for about five percent and falling.

    “If this phenomenon continues, Christianity in the Middle East will disappear,” said Rev. Samir Khalil Samir, a Beirut-based Egyptian Jesuit who helped draw up the working documents for the October 10-24 synod at the Vatican.

    “This is not an unreal hypothesis — Turkey went from 20 percent Christian in the early 20th century to 0.2 percent now,” he told journalists in Paris. The Christian exodus since the U.S.-led 2003 invasion “could bleed the Church in Iraq dry.”

    CALL FOR CHANGE

    Instead of simply appealing for more aid to Catholics in the region, the experts who prepared the synod call for sweeping social changes to bring forth democratic secular states, interfaith cooperation and a rollback of advancing Islamism.

    “At issue is the renewal of Arab society,” said Samir, who stressed most Christians and Muslims there are fellow Arabs.

    Challenged by western-style modernity, many Middle Eastern societies have fused their Arab and Muslim identities, he said, narrowing religious freedom for non-Muslim minorities.

    The working document stated: “Catholics, along with other Christian citizens and Muslim thinkers and reformers, ought to be able to support initiatives at examining thoroughly the concept of the ‘positive laicity’ of the state.

    “This could help eliminate the theocratic character of government and allow for greater equality among citizens of different religions, thereby fostering the promotion of a sound democracy, positively secular in nature.”

    The document pins most of the blame for the Christian exodus on political tensions in the region: “Today, emigration is particularly prevalent because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the resulting instability throughout the region.”

    It cited the “menacing social situation in Iraq,” where about half the estimated 850,000 Christians there in 2003 have since fled sectarian violence and persecution, and “political instability of Lebanon” as further factors driving them out.

    The rise of political Islam since the 1970s, especially its violent variations, menaces the whole region, it added, saying: “These extremist currents, clearly a threat to everyone, Christians and Muslims alike, require joint action.”

    CHRISTIAN COOPERATION

    The region’s Christians have also been weakened by age-old splits. The Catholics are divided into Latin Catholic, Coptic, Maronite, Chaldean, Armenian, Syrian and Greek Melkite churches — and they are outnumbered by various Orthodox churches.

    Protestants are also present, in older communities founded by colonial missionaries or in newer evangelical groups whose aggressive proselytizing — often backed by conservative U.S. churches — has provoked a backlash from Muslim authorities.

    The synod document urges the sometimes competing Catholic churches to work with each other and with other Christians to make their voice heard in Middle Eastern society.

    Its advice to open up to other churches and faiths, simplify their ancient liturgies and introduce more Arabic into their services echoes the Second Vatican Council reforms that worldwide Roman Catholicism launched back in the 1960s.

    Highlighting this openness, the synod has invited an Iranian ayatollah, a Lebanese Muslim and a rabbi from Jerusalem to attend the proceedings and address the 250 participants.

    “I don’t think people in the West appreciate to what extent the thematics of the synod are totally new to so much of the Church in the Middle East,” said Rev. David Jaeger, a Franciscan and leading Roman Catholic expert on the Middle East.

    “The whole discussion of the civic duty of the Christian … is totally new for the region as a whole. For 13 centuries, Christians in the Middle East have been made to live in a kind of socio-economic ghetto,” he told Reuters Television in Rome.

    As Samir summed it up: “If we can do something with other Christians, it is better than doing it alone. If we Christians can do something with the Muslims, that is even better.”

  • Satan is in the Vatican, says Pope’s exorcist

    Satan is in the Vatican, says Pope’s exorcist

    The Devil is in the Vatican and is behind the child sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church, says the Pope’s chief exorcist.

    Pope

    Satan’s work could also be seen in cardinals who ‘do not believe in Jesus and bishops who are linked to the demon,’ said Father Gabriele Amorth.

    ‘When one speaks of “the smoke of Satan” [a phrase coined by Pope Paul VI in 1972] in the holy rooms, it is all true – including these latest stories of violence and paedophilia,’ he told La Repubblica newspaper.

    A series of sex abuse scandals, in countries including Ireland, have hit the Catholic Church recently.

    And earlier this week, the Pope’s brother, the Rev Georg Ratzinger, admitted hitting choirboys after he took over a renowned German choir in the 1960s.

    Mr Ratzinger said he was also aware of allegations of physical abuse at a school linked to the choir. Fr Amorth is said to have carried out more than 30,000 exorcisms and has been the top man in his field for 25 years.

    The 85-year-old, who is president of the International Association of Exorcists, once spoke out against the Harry Potter series of books, saying they opened children’s minds to the occult and black magic.

    He said the stories attempted to make a false distinction between black and white magic, a difference that ‘does not exist because magic is always a turn to the Devil’.

    Fr Amorth has also said Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin were possessed by Satan and the incident last year in which a mentally ill woman threw herself at the Pope was the work of the Devil.

    His favourite film, according to the Italian press, is The Exorcist, a ‘substantially exact’ but ‘exaggerated’ portrayal of possession.

    The Metro