VATICAN CITY (AFP) - A senior Vatican cleric admitted that Pope John Paul II's often-stated aim of full unity between the various Christian churches was still a long way off.
German Cardinal Walter Kasper, the head of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, told journalists that enthusiasm for "full and visible" unity between Catholics and members of other Christian churches had waned.
Kasper's sober assessment came as some 260 bishops and theological experts from around the world gathered in Rome for the first major review of ecumenical progress since the Second Vatican Council revitalized the process 40 years ago.
"It's obvious that we have not reached our stated goal: full and visible communion" between the Christian Churches, Kasper told a press conference at the Vatican.
"The initial enthusiasm is no longer there," he conceded, but denied that ecumenism is going through "a glacial period".
"It would be more accurate to speak of a period of maturity and necessary clarification," he added.
He said the conference on ecumenism, which meets from Thursday to Saturday on the outskirts of Rome, would take stock of the current state of ecumenism between the world's more than one billion Catholics and around a billion others who are members of rival Churches, and assess the best way forward.
Kasper said the road ahead "will probably be long and laborious, with disappointments, occasional incidents and even resistance," in some quarters.
But he sought to dissuade Catholics from the notion that dialogue with other Christian faiths would damage their identity.
He said ecumenism "is not a form of ecclesiastic diplomacy" but a "spiritual process, a spiritual adventure".
Of continuing concern is the Holy See's tense relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church, which regularly accuses it of proselytism in traditionally Orthodox areas of the former Soviet Union, and has blocked moves by Pope John Paul II to visit Russia.
The two communities separated in a schism in 1054.
"After a positive start, theological dialogue with the Orthodox churches has run into serious difficulties over the last 15 years," said Monsignor Elueterio Fortino, under-secretary of the Council for Christian Unity.
He lamented the fact that a mixed commission of members of both Churches "has not met since the last plenary session in 2000 in the United States,"
11/10/2004 - 18:13 GMT - AFP