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Robert Francis Taft, S.J. (born January 9, 1932) is an American Jesuit priest and archimandrite of the Eastern Catholic Church, who is an expert in Oriental liturgy and a professor emeritus of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, of which he was the Vice-rector between 1995 and 2001. == Biography == Taft was born in Providence, Rhode Island, into the Taft family notable for their contribution to American politics. Taft entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus on 14 August 1949. He did his initial spiritual and academic training in philosophy at the former Weston College in Weston, Massachusetts. During his period of regency that followed, he taught for three years at Baghdad Jesuit University, later Al-Hikma University (1956–1959). It was there that he developed his interest in Eastern Christian religious traditions. He returned to the United States in 1959 and pursued a graduate degree in Russian at Fordham University. He was ordained a priest of the Byzantine Rite on June 7, 1963. Developing an interest in Eastern liturgical traditions and, with his background in Russian, Taft undertook studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute of Rome in 1970. He completed his doctoral thesis under Jesuit Professor Juan Mateos on the Great Entrance of the Divine Liturgy in 1975. The work was published as ''The Great Entrance'' and immediately hailed as a classic in the field. A professor at the Oriental institute of Rome from 1975 to 2011, Taft guided innumerable doctoral theses. His expertise gained him recognition from the many Eastern churches and rites, including the Ukrainian and Armenian Catholic Churches in Europe, the Chaldean Catholic Church in the Middle East and the Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Catholic Churches in India. From 1972 to 1976, he was director of the specialized journal ''Orientalia Christian Periodica'' and from 1987 to 2004 was editor of the collection ''Orientalia Christiana Analecta''. Consultor of several ecclesiastical dicasteries and the Vatican Congregation for the Oriental Churches, he is the founder of the ''Societas Orientalium Liturgiarum''. Taft is an outspoken observer. He has called "the height of asininity" the argument that the use of Latin in the Tridentine Mass is an approach to mystery better than the use of the vernacular language in the modern Mass. He is a supporter of the synodal form of church administration, followed by the Eastern Orthodox Churches, for the entire Catholic Church. When the issue of possible full communion with the Assyrian Church was being considered, a problem arose regarding their liturgy's lacking the exact formulation of the words of consecration considered essential by the Catholic Church. Working with Taft's analysis of the situation, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity issued a decree in 2001 which now allows members of both churches to receive communion from one another's clergy in case of emergency.〔 In 2011 Taft left Rome, and the library desk at the Oriental Institute which he occupied for 46 years. He currently lives in Campion Hall, in Weston, the site of his college studies, now the retirement facility of the New England Jesuit Province.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Robert F. Taft」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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