“Ecumenism is a priority, and we Catholics too must conduct an examination of conscience; we must be self-critical and self-penitent”, said Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, on receiving an honorary degree from the Comillas Pontifical University in Madrid on 30 March. The cardinal said he was hopeful about how ecumenical dialogue is proceeding. On the other hand, he added, “ecumenism is not a kind of union, but a process that starts out from a communion that already exists”. New problems as Kasper recognized have arisen in the bioethical field, especially in our dialogue with the Protestant and Anglican world, “profoundly divided on ethical issues that are causing divergences and making it difficult to give the common witness of which the world has so much need”.
