” “"The world suffers from the absence of God, the inaccessibility of God, it longs to get to know God’s Face". It was said by the Pope, who, in today’s audience, entirely focussed on the Week of Prayer for the Unity of Christians, uttered these words, off the cuff, after explaining the "deep meaning" of the Week: that is, to "firmly rely on the prayer of Christ who in His Church keeps praying for everyone to be one, for the world to believe". "Today he said off the cuff we deeply feel the realism of these words". "But how could the world get to know this Face wondered Benedict XVI if we Christians are divided, if we are against each other?" "Only in unity answered the Pope can we truly show God’s Face to this world, which needs it". "It is clear the Pope, however, specified that we cannot achieve such unity with our strategies. What we can obtain is for God to enable us to do that". This is, according to the Pope, "the meaning of the Prayer" for the Unity of Christians: "opening up our hearts to show the way to unity", starting from the awareness that only from the "common look to Christ can we find the gift of unity". Hence the need to "make the Face of God accessible in the face of Christ, who is God-with-us, God of peace and unity". ” “
