Cardinal says martyrs are the most credible witness to Christian unity
The head of the Pontifical council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch,
says the example of martyrs from the different persecuted Churches remains the most
credible witness to the cause of Christian unity. Writing in the Vatican newspaper,
l’Osservatore Romano, the Swiss theologian says it’s vital for Christians not to be
resigned to our lack of unity, but to be recommitted to tackling the challenges facing
the ecumenical movement today. Philippa Hitchen spoke to the Cardinal about this
week of prayer for Christian unity, beginning with the need to deepen the spiritual
dimension of the ecumenical movement…
Listen….
"I think it's
very important to deepen the spiritual dimension because the ecumenical movement began
with prayer and prayer for unity (tells us that) we, as Church, can't find unity (on
our own) because unity is a gift of the Holy Spirit."
The theme for this week
of prayer for Christian unity reminds us of the four pillars of faith for the early
Christians: teaching, fellowship, prayer and breaking of bread. As you know, many
Churches encourage a sharing of the Eucharist as a way of growing closer together
- what's your reaction?
“I can understand this meaning, but for us Catholics
and Orthodox the communion in the Eucharist is a visible sign of our unity. The fact
we can't (share) can give a motivation of strength to deepen our dialogue of charity
and truth, because the goal of dialogue is unity of the Church and then unity of the
Eucharist. Ithink it's very important that we have new forces to work for this final
view of the ecumenical movement as now the views are very different."
You also
talk about the ecumenism of the martyrs...?
"We have martyrs in all the Churches....here
in Rome we have St Bartholomew's for all the modern martyrs. I think that what John
Paul II said, that between the martyrs we have perfect unity and when we see this
unity, we can have new forces to make visible the unity that the Holy Spirit has given
us."