WCC leader on Pope's commitment to ecumenical vision
(Vatican Radio) Pope Benedict’s decision to resign has brought words of respect and
appreciation from Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, secretary general of the Geneva based World
Council of Churches. In a statement issued earlier this week, the head of the WCC,
which represents almost 350 churches and Christian communities in countries around
the globe, asks for prayers to bless Pope Benedict and to guide the Catholic Church
in this very important time of transition. Philippa Hitchen caught up with Rev
Fykse Tveit by phone to hear his reactions to the surprise announcement on Monday……
Listen:
My reaction
was that we have to fully respect that decision, a very human decision, for a human
being that needs to take care of himself, but also a man with wisdom and the strength
to make a decision like this. We fully respect what he has now decided himself and
we also fully respect the work he has done in these very important, but also demanding
and difficult years for the church.
Pope Benedict stressed right from the
beginning that ecumenism was a priority for his pontificate – how would you evaluate
his contribution to the promotion of Christian Unity?
I think we need
some more time to analyse the impact of his work, but I can say that he has been sharing
the ecumenical vision and the belief that through proper ecumenical dialogue it is
possible to make improvements and come to a better understanding. But I think some
of our member churches and some of the Christian world communions have been disappointed
that he has not been able to bring the ecumenical dialogues further towards more common
understanding of basic Christian doctrines.
In this sense then, what would
be your message for his successor?
That the world needs our churches to
be able to focus on what we have in common, our common call to serve in the world,
to work together for justice and peace, but also that we have a common call to unity
and we cannot give up that agenda and we cannot give up the agenda of trying to learn
from one another and to proceed towards a common Christian witness
The Pope
himself was a member of the WCC’s Faith and Order Commission in the late ‘60’s..
Certainly
and he has been very well aware of all the theological issues that are implied in
the ecumenical dialogues and in the particular in the work of the Faith and Order
Commission. When we met, he referred to this work and also to how we can, on the basis
of the biblical texts, bring the ecumenical dialogue further – this is a very important
issue for all of us and also hopefully a big issue for the next pope
You
met Pope Benedict here in the Vatican…
Yes it was a very nice conversation
where we dealt with very important issues for the ecumenical movement and how the
churches around the world face new challenges, both in their own contexts but also
in the relationship between them.