ROME There are three non-Christian participants known as special invitations at the Middle East Synod here now in its fourth day of speeches and discussions Rabbi David Rosen is a Jewish American leader well known in Catholic circles and a regular habitue of the annual interreligious peace

A Lebanese bishop yesterday reminded the Synod that Pope John Paul II in his 1995 encyclical Ut Unum Sint called for a review of the practice of papal primacy in the light of the ecclesiology of the First Millennium It was good to recall said Guy-Paul Noujaim a Lebanese auxiliary and titular bi

ROME The excellent New York-based Catholic Near East Welfare Assocation CNEWA yesterday organised a fringe press meeting to consider some of the North-American dimensions of the Synod discussions It was hosted by CNEWA s secretary-general Msgr also Archimandrite of the Greek-Catholic patriarc

Perhaps more than other Christians who seem more open to floating freely among various denominations for worship and identity Catholics tend to view some other churches as monolithic institutions with clear doctrine and discipline guiding all members along a straight and narrow path But the cove

nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp

ROME I arrived this morning to find the 185 Catholic bishops summoned by Pope Benedict to discuss the Middle East deep into their discussions nbsp It s day three of the two-week Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops and they are beginning the discussion in small groups i