An invitation to overcome the "tragedy of the split of the Christian community" through "common prayer", to "restore the full communion of all Christians". This invitation was given today by the Pope who in the audience – that was held in the Aula Paolo VI because of the rain – dwelt on the subject of the unity of Christians at the beginning of the Week of Prayer devoted to ecumenical dialogue (until January 25th). Praying "for everybody’s communion", began Benedict XVI, "involves, in different forms, times and ways, Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants, joined by the faith in Jesus Christ, the only Lord and Saviour", and belongs to that "central core that the Second Vatican Council calls "the soul of all the ecumenical movement", and which "actually includes public and private prayers, the conversion of the heart and the sanctity of life". A "view", the one of the Council, that, for the Pope, "brings us back to the centre of the ecumenical problem, which is obedience to the Gospel to make God’s will with His necessary and effective help". The factors that, despite the permanent split, still unite Christians, support the possibility of raising a common prayer to God", said the Pope, according to whom "this communion in Christ supports the whole ecumenical movement and points at the purpose of the search for the unity of all Christians in the Church of God. This distinguishes the ecumenical movement from any other initiative for dialogue and relations with other religions and ideologies". (to be continued)
