The French cardinal has received doctor’s degree in Minsk

The archbishop the Lyons cardinal Phillip Barbaren has received honourable doctor’s degree (”doctor honoris causa”) Institute of divinity of the Belarus state university during the visit to Belarus which has come to the end on Wednesday, the press-service Minsko-Mogilyov Catholic архиепархии has informed. Cardinal Barbaren stayed in Minsk under the invitation of the metropolitan Minsk and Slutsky, the Patriarchal exarkh all Belarus Philaret.

The French hierarch has underlined in the thankful word that such visits are a display of joint aspiration of Churches to unity of Christians. «I met orthodox metropolitan Philaret and with Catholic metropolitan Tadeushem Kondrusevichem, and to them to both I have addressed with the same offer: that students came to study to us to Lyons because all of us are very anxious by a question of unity of Christians», – cardinal Barbaren has underlined.

Metropolitan Kondrusevich during ceremony in БГУ has noticed that «visit of cardinal Barbarena to Belarus and award to it of a title» doctor honoris causa «Institute of divinity BGU is one more proof of our general aspiration to development of Interchristian and interreligious communications and the joint answer to present calls».

Cardinal Barbaren is the author and the co-author of numerous theological works, among which «Missionary service and professorial activity», «the Christian, what your belief?», «hundred hot points of history of Church», «our Otche», «the Way of a spiritual life», «Rabin and the cardinal», «the Life for me – the Christ». On Tuesday it has made a mass in the Minsk Catholic cathedral. In the sermon he has urged parishioners «to be earth salt», «to fill the world with pleasure and to change its taste».

The archbishop Lyons has transferred in library of a Catholic theological seminary in Grodno a collection of books in French from a series «Christianity Sources» (Sources Chretiennes). In these editions the writing of Fathers of Church which are studied by representatives of various faiths contain.