” “”The unity of the disciples of Christ is essential if we want to be give a shared Christian testimony of non violence, tolerance, mutual respect, justice and peace, that our world urgently needs”. This was said this morning by card. Walter Kasper, president of the Papal Council for the Promotion of the Unity of the Christians, as he spoke in the Church of San Giorgio al Fanar to His Holiness the Patriarch Bartholomew I. The cardinal is at the head of the delegation of the Holy See, which is in Istanbul today for the celebration of the Day of Saint Andrew. "How can I speak to Your Holiness this year said the cardinal without mentioning, with joy and gratitude deep in my heart, the friendly hospitality and the fraternal love with which you received the Bishop of Rome, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, in this very place one year ago? How can I forget how much our hearts rejoiced when you hugged each other and when you took each other’s hands and raised them high up, on the balcony of the ecumenical Patriarchate, showing to the world your common determination to overcome decades of separation and, with God’s blessing and help, to go on in the pact of reconciliation, in order to fulfil the prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ before His suffering and His death?” (continued)” “
