Pope Benedict XVI: Look with Hope and Renewed Determination toward Christian Unity

(January 26, 2012) "While experiencing these days the painful situation of our divisions, we Christians can and must look to the future with hope, because Christ's victory means to overcome everything that keeps us from sharing the fullness of life with Him and with others”. Pope Benedict said this at the end of the 45th Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, urging Christians to hope, but also "to renew their determination to pursue with courage and generosity, the unity that is God's will." Closing the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Wednesday evening with the celebration of Vespers in the basilica of St. Paul, the Pope was joined by Metropolitan Gennadios, representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Canon Richardson, Personal Representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury in Rome, representatives of different churches and ecclesial communities, ecumenical groups, including the Polish groups who choose the theme of this week. Commenting on the theme "All shall be changed by the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Pope Benedict XVI noted that "the meaning of this mysterious transformation" in which Saul from a persecutor of the early Church became " a tireless apostle of the Gospel "of Jesus" is not the result of a long inner reflection and not even the result of personal effort. It is first and foremost by the grace of God who has acted according to his inscrutable ways". Further the Pontiff said that this transformation has its basis in our participation in the mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and presents itself as a gradual process of being conformed to Him. The Pope concluded saying that as we lift our prayers to him, we are confident that we will be transformed and conformed to the image of Christ.