Ecumenism
Christians around the world today are called to be instruments of peace and reconciliation. Pope Francis said this as he received in audience a delegation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland on the occasion of their annual ecumenical pilgrimage to Rome to mark the feast of Saint Henrik, patron of the country. The delegation was received today on the day that marks the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The Pope, in his address, underlined how the theme “Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power” reminds us of “the situation of dire need in which countless people live in many parts of our world. It is our duty to come to their aid, united by our shared ecumenical commitment. In complete humility, then, – Pope Francis said – let us ask our Lord Jesus Christ that by his grace we Christians throughout the world may be instruments of his peace. May he help us always, amid divisions between peoples, to work together as witnesses and servants of his healing and reconciling love, and in this way to sanctify and glorify his name. Let us constantly implore the support of God’s grace and the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, who guides us to the fullness of truth”. The Pope then went on to recall last year’s joint commemoration of the Reformation that “has strengthened and deepened, in our Lord Jesus Christ, communion between Lutherans, Catholics and their ecumenical partners worldwide. This joint commemoration remains a fruitful opportunity for ecumenism, for it marked not a goal but rather a point of departure in the ecumenical quest for full and visible unity between Christians, under the threefold sign of gratitude, repentance and hope, all three of which are indispensable if we truly desire to heal our memory. It is not by chance that our efforts are moving towards the study of a major ecumenical question that we intend to discuss in the future, namely, the nature of the Church”. “We understood the event of the Reformation – the Pope went on to say – as a summons to confront together Christianity’s loss of credibility, and to renew and strengthen our common confession of the Triune God. The year just ended reminded us of a time when Christian unity was not yet sundered. Consequently, there was only one way for Lutherans and Catholics to commemorate 2017: in ecumenical communion”.
