(25 Jan 08 - RV) Pope Benedict is currently at the basilica of St Paul’s outside the
walls presiding over a special ecumenical vespers service, which marks the feast of
the conversion of St Paul and the end of the week of prayer for Christian Unity.
Earlier
today the Holy Father met and spoke with the Joint working group between the World
Council of Churches and the Catholic Church, praising their progress in dialogue for
unity... Dear Friends,
I am pleased to welcome you, the members of the
Joint Working Group between the World Council of Churches and the Catholic Church,
as you gather in Rome to begin a new phase of your work. Your meeting takes place
in this City where the Apostles Peter and Paul bore supreme witness to Christ and
shed their blood in his name. I greet you warmly in the words which Paul himself
addressed to the first Christians in Rome: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 1:7).
The World Council of Churches
and the Catholic Church have enjoyed a fruitful ecumenical relationship dating back
to the time of the Second Vatican Council. The Joint Working Group, which began in
1965, has worked assiduously to strengthen the “dialogue of life” which my predecessor,
Pope John Paul II, called the “dialogue of charity” (Ut Unum Sint, 17). This
cooperation has given vivid expression to the communion already existing between Christians
and has advanced the cause of ecumenical dialogue and understanding.
The
centenary of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity offers us an opportunity to thank
Almighty God for the fruits of the ecumenical movement, in which we can discern the
presence of the Holy Spirit fostering the growth of all Christ’s followers in unity
of faith, hope and love. To pray for unity is itself “an effective means of obtaining
the grace of unity” (Unitatis Redintegratio, 8), since it is a participation
in the prayer of Jesus himself. When Christians pray together, “the goal of unity
seems closer” (Ut Unum Sint, 22), for the presence of Christ in our midst (cf.
Mt 18:20) fosters a profound harmony of mind and heart: we are able to look
at each other in a new way, and to strengthen our resolve to overcome whatever keeps
us apart.
On this day, then, we think back with gratitude to the work of so
many individuals who, over the years, have sought to spread the practice of spiritual
ecumenism through common prayer, conversion of heart and growth in communion. We
also give thanks for the ecumenical dialogues which have borne abundant fruit in the
past century. The reception of those fruits is itself an important step in the process
of promoting Christian unity, and the Joint Working Group is particularly suited to
studying and encouraging that process.
Dear friends, I pray that the new
Joint Working Group will be able to build on the commendable work already done, and
thus open the way to ever greater cooperation, so that the Lord’s prayer “that they
all may be one” (Jn 17:21) will be ever more fully realized in our time.
With
these sentiments, and with deep appreciation for your important service to the ecumenical
movement, I cordially invoke upon you and your deliberations God’s abundant blessings.