A courtesy call at WCC

Title

Language

English

Year

1969

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

THE CHURCH HERE AND THERE APPOINTMENTS On May 31, the Holy Father has transferred to the Episcopal See of Legazpi His Excellency Most Rev. Teotimo Pacis, Bishop of Palo. The Pope has also appointed Father Francisco F. Claver, S.J., first bishop of the prelature of Malay-balay and the entire province of Bukidnon. Bom on January 20, 1929, Father Claver studied at the Diocesan Seminary in Baguio City, before he entered die Jesuit Novitiate. He was ordained priest on June 19, 1961. A FRIEND TO THE GREAT CAUSE OF ILO On June 10, the Pope went to Geneva to honour the golden jubilee of the International Labour Organization and so to manifest his own deep concern and that of the entire Church for the rights of working men all over the world. The ILO is an autonomous institution established in 1919 by the Peace Treaty of Versailles and is associated with the League of Nations to improve labour conditions, raise standards of living and promote economic and social stability through international action. The delegations to its main governing or guiding organs represent not only governments but also, in equal numbers, workers and employers. It has no coercive powers and works mainly through the force of good sense and public opinion. The Pope associated himself with die work of diis great institution by making a powerful appeal for peace through justice. He affirmed that “all human beings, no matter what their race, their b'elief, or their sex, have the right to pursue their material progress and spiritual development in freedom and dignity, in economic security and with equal opportunity”. He paid tribute to pioneers of social justice such as Bishop Mermillod and the Union of Fribourg, the admirable example given by the Protestant industrialist Daniel le Grand, and the fruitful initiatives of the Catholic, Gaspard Decurtins, and praised the imposing achievements and merits of the fifty-year old world institution. A COURTESY CALL AT WCC On the same day, the Pope took the opportunity of paying a call of friendly and prayerful courtesy at the headquarters of the World Council of Churches which are in the same city. 634 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS He expressed his profound appreciation for the development of current relations between the World Council and the Catholic Church, two bodies very different in nature but whose collaboration has proved to be fruitful. “In common accord with Our Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, competent Catholics have been invited to participate in your activities in various ways. The theological reflection on the unity of the Church, the search for a better understanding of Christian worship, the deep formation of the laity, the consciousness of our common responsibilities and the coordination of our efforts for social and economic development and for peace among the nations — these are some examples of areas where this cooperation has taken shape. There are plans also to find the possibilities of a common Christian approach to the phenomenon of unbelief, to the tensions between the generations, and to relations with the non-christian religions.” On the delicate question of whether the Catholic Church should become a member of the World Council, the Pope had this to say: “What can We answer at this moment? In fraternal frankness, We do not consider that the question of the membership of the Catholic Church in the World Council is so mature that a positive answer could or should be given. The question still remains .an hypothesis. It contains serious theological and pastoral implications. It thus requires profound study and commits us to a way that honesty recognizes could be long and difficult. But this does not prevent Us from assuring you of Our great respect and deep affection. The determination which animates Us and the principle which guides Us will always be the search, filled with hope and pastoral realism for the unity willed by Christ.” SOME PRESS COMMENTS ON THE POPE’S VISIT TO GENEVA The Holy Father’s journey to Geneva was commented on and analyzed in many quarters and in many ways. The Swiss newspaper La Liberte (Fribourg, June 11) said that “It would be difficult to find another occasion on which a few hours concentrated such an amount of history and involved consequences of such importance for the future.” The French newspaper La Croix (June 11) printed an article by Felix Lacambre, who began with an opinion expressed by Cardinal Koenig: “This is more important than the Pope’s visit to the United Nations Organiza tion.” The Archbishop of Vienna added, “John XXIII might perhaps have hesitated to act with such courage.” And on the Pope’s visit to ILO: “Never again will work be superior to the worker, never again will work be against the worker; but always work will be for the worker, work will be in the service of man, of every man and of all of man.” The Protestant pastor, G. Richard-Moland, wrote in Le Figaro of June 16: “The open-air Mass in the Parc de La Grange was certainly a Catholic

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