Pope Francis gives away relics of St. Peter to Orthodox patriarch

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Leave it to LifeSite to make this gift into something sinister.

The Patriarch was presented with a small reliquary containing some relics of St Peter.

The Holy Father did not disinter the bones of St Peter from below the Vatican, you can go to the Vatican tomorrow and venerate St Peter’s bones.

www.catholicworldreport.com

Pope Francis gives relic of St. Peter’s bones to Orthodox patriarch

Vatican City, Jul 3, 2019 / 10:50 am (CNA).- Pope Francis gave unexpectedly a reliquary containing what are believed to be bone fragments of St. Peter to Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew, an ecumenical gesture that has generated controversy among some Ca...
www.catholicworldreport.com www.catholicworldreport.com
 
I avoid lifesite, but golly,those anonymous quotes were something. It read like satire from the Onion or The Eye of the Tiber. 🥜 😜
 
I fail to see anything “ominous” about sharing the relics of St. Peter with the Church of Constantinople. There’s plenty of St. Peter left in St. Peter’s for the Pope to venerate any time he wishes.

Let us hope the intercession of St. Peter makes the churches one again.

LifeSite making this into something negative for the church is just mind-boggling. I see it as a very positive bridge-building, not as any rejection of St. Peter by Pope Francis.
 
I fail to see why some folks are getting their knickers in a twist over this. It’s not like the Pope gave away St. Peter’s entire skeleton. He gave the Ecumenical Patriarch 9 fragments as a sign of goodwill. Gestures like this need to happen so that the Church (including Orthodoxy) can continue on the path to unity - since our lack of unity causes such a great scandal to the rest of the world and inhibits our efforts at evangelization.
 
KMG said:
The explanation the pope gives also emphasises this autocracy. “He” does not use the Palace. “He” does not say Mass there. In other words, given his own personal practices, whatever he decides to do is justified. By the same logic he could order the Palace torn down: it serves no function in his papacy.
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This was my thought also. The pope is also making the decision for all popes succeeding him as well as for the parishioners of the Roman Diocese he heads.

Not sure on the suitability for an Argentinian to become Roman bishop and then give away the relics whose very history (assuming authenticity) is so special to the Roman Diocese.

I pray Pope Francis’ wisdom in this decision will be a positive that I am not aware of.
 
I can see the criticism of the Pope’s logic…”I don’t use this chapel” seems a silly excuse. Yet I see beauty and power in the gesture. It is also very over the top to pronounce that St Peter’s protection has left Rome… St Peter’s other relics are still in the basilica. These were removed from the Basilica by St Paul VI decades ago.
 
abucs said:
The pope is also making the decision for all popes succeeding him as well as for the parishioners of the Roman Diocese he heads.
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Exactly–they really are not his to give away. And yeah, his “I don’t use this chapel” reasoning is not just silly, it is self-centered. It is all about him.

And it would be one thing if he thought of them like a green scapular, but if the Church of Constantinople asked to enter into full communion he would turn them away… (because “uniatism” is bad, according to him).
 
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Also, I wonder if this is also considered an insult to the Russian Orthodox Church and other EO Churches who currently consider Constantinople to be schismatic.
 
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When I read this I thought it was so awesome and amazing as a gesture. Exactly the type of things you expect from the Vicar of Christ. The Church needs both lungs. My second thought was some Catholics would somehow still find some way to criticize the Pope about this… I wasn’t wrong.
 
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Genesis315 said:
Also, I wonder if this is also considered an insult to the Russian Orthodox Church and other EO Churches who currently consider Constantinople to be schismatic.
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If it is then i see perfect irony in it.

Peace!!!
 
I still don’t understand why folks are getting upset over this. The only thing Pope Francis did was give away 8 bone fragments of St. Peter (not the entire skeleton, which still remains directly under the main altar in St. Peter’s and can be viewed by anyone who takes a skavi tour) that were in the private papal chapel. He has robbed neither the Diocese of Rome nor the Catholic Church as a whole of St. Peter’s relics. The only thing he has done is extend a gesture of brotherly love to a fellow Patriarch of an Apostolic Church. Can someone explain to me why this is such a negative thing?
 
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Maybe to the Russians, but probably not. The reality is, there have been gestures of brotherly love going back and forth between Rome and Constantinople for some time now (at least since Pope St. John Paul II, if not before). This is probably the second greatest in a long line of such gestures - the greatest being when a number of other relics were returned by the Pope (Francis I believe) to the Ecumenical Patriarch.
 
They’re not only criticizing his actions…they go way beyond that. Reading the original article in the OP, there are quotes about St. Peter’s protection leaving Rome and this being an ominous sign for the future…its just wacky!

As I said in another post, the only just criticism I see was over the Pope’s comments “I don’t use this chapel anyway”…that was just silly…but I very much doubt that’s the real reason he’s giving the relics away.
 
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