Dialogue
“We are grateful to God because we can say that, in a certain sense, we too have been freed from the slavery of estrangement and mutual suspicion”. Pope Francis said this as he received in audience in the Consistory Hall a Delegation from the Methodist World Council on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the beginning of Methodist-Catholic theological dialogue. “As a result of these fifty years of patient, fraternal dialogue, we can truly say to one another in the words of the Apostle Paul: ‘you are no longer strangers’”, Pope Francis said: “Yes, we are no longer strangers, either in our hearts or in our belonging to the Lord, thanks to the one Baptism that has made us true brothers and sisters. We are, and we feel ourselves to be, ‘members of the household of God’”. “We have come to this realization as the result of dialogue”, the Pope explained: “The Second Vatican Council continues to encourage the growth of knowledge and esteem between Christians of differing confessions by means of a dialogue carried out with love for the truth, with charity, and with humility”. “True dialogue gives us the courage to encounter one another in humility and sincerity, in an effort to learn from one another, and in a spirit of honesty and integrity”, Pope Francis remarked: “We are brothers and sisters who, following a long separation, are happy once more to see and learn about one another, and to move forward with open hearts. So let us advance together, knowing that our journey is blessed by the Lord”.
