Perspectief 2014-25

2014-25 Legal positioning 25 Reageer Brother Roger was able to express his hope that Rome would “leave a little way open.” 8 After Pius XII died, again Cardinal Gerlier encouraged brother Roger to visit Rome for an audience with the newly elected Pope John XXIII. According to brother Emile of Taizé, brother Roger considered Pope John XXIII to be the person that influenced the community the most. 9 The Pope would have a meeting with brother Roger every year, a custom continued by the Popes after him. He also invited him to participate in the Second Vatican Council as an observer. On that occasion brother Roger and the brothers accompanying him met several Bishops and Cardinals, among whom also Karol Woytiła, the later Pope John Paul II. 10 In 1986, during his papacy, he visited Taizé. He gave communion to brother Roger at several occasions. His future successor, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, gave communion to brother Roger too, at the funeral of Pope John Paul II. Cardinal Kasper analyzed that “Ratzinger only repeated what had already been done before him.” 11 Still, the Vatican was somewhat embarrassed by the criticism in Catholic media and informally declared that under the circumstances, communion could not be denied to brother Roger. The papacy and the community have had and still have a close relationship. John Paul II visited the community in 1986. Pope Benedict XVI has sent several messages to the community and to the visitors of the European meetings, organized by the brothers every year in a big European city. In 2012 this meeting took place in Rome, with on the programme also a prayer meeting at St. Peter’s square in presence of Pope Benedict. However, Popes like Benedict seemed to prefer to stress the spiritual ecumenism of Taizé rather than to draw attention to the practice of common worship. Thus Benedict said: “brother Roger encouraged all those who passed through Taize to become seekers of communion. We should listen in our hearts to his spiritually lived 8 Brother Roger, quoted in: Santos, A community called Taizé , 64. 9 Brother Emile, ‘Taizé: a call to reconciliation’ (lecture at the KU Leuven, KU Leuven website: http://www.kuleuven.be/up/images/documents/taizereconciliation.doc : 20 october 2008) [2 june 2014]. 10 Brother Emile, ‘Taizé: a call to reconciliation’. 11 Magister, ‘Was the founder of Taizé Protestant, or Catholic?’