With various official delegations

At 12:30pm today (local time in Rome) in the Sala Clementina of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father Francis received in Audience the various Fraternal Church Delegations, Ecclesiastical Communities and International Eccumentical Organizations, Representatives of the Jewish people and of various non-Christian Religions who had come to Rome for the celebration of the official beginning of his ministry as Bishop of Rome and Successor of the Apostle Peter.

During the gathering, after the greetings spoken by His Holiness, Bartholomew I, Eccumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Pope Francis spoke the following words:

Discourse of the Holy Father
for the meeting with
Official Delegations
Present for the Inauguration of his Petrine Ministry

Dear brothers and sisters,

First of all, I wish to thank my Brother Andrew (a reference to the fact that the Patriarchs of Constantinople are considered to be the descendents of the Apostle Andrew) most sincerely for his greetings.  Thank you very much.  Thank you so very much.

It is a special joy for me to meet today with all of you: Delegates from the Orthodox Churches, from the Oriental Orthodox Churches and from the various Ecclesiastical Communities of the West. I thank you for having participated in the celebration denoting the beginning of my ministry as Bishop of Rome and Successor of Peter.

Yesterday morning, during the Holy Mass, I recognized in your presence the spiritual presence of the various communities you represent.  In this demonstration of faith, a fervent prayer for the unity of all believers in Christ also seemed to be present.  It was in a sense, a prefigurement of the fullness of God and of our sincere cooperation.

I begin my apostolic ministry during this year which my venerable predecessor Benedict XVI, with truly inspired intuition, proclaimed for the Catholic Church a Year of Faith. With this initiative, which I intend to continue and which I hope will stimulate the path of faith for all, he wished to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, which proposed a kind of pilgrimage which is essential for every Christian: the personal and transformational relationship with Jesus Christ, Son of God, who died and rose for our salvation.  The mere desire to proclaim this perennially valid truth of faith to men and women of our time, is at the heart of the Council message.

Together with you, I cannot forget how much this Council meant for the ecumenical journey.  I am pleased to recall the words which Blessed John XXIII, the fiftieth anniversary of whose death we will soon remember, uttered during his memorable inauguration speech: The Catholic Church considers it her duty to work actively so as to fulfill the great mystery of that unity for which Christ Jesus with ardent prayers asked the Heavenly Father on the eve of his sacrifice; she enjoys gentle peace, knowing that they are intimately united to Christ in her prayers. (AAS 54, 1962, 793).  The great Pope John.

Yes, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we should strive to be intimately connected to our Saviour's prayer at the Last Supper: to his invocation: ut unum sint (may they be one).  Let us ask the merciful Father to enliven within us the faith that we received as His gift on the day of our baptism, and to freely be able to provide joyous and courageous testimony.  This is the best thing we can do in the service of Christian unity, a service of hope for a world still marked by division, contrast and rivalry. The more we are faithful to his will, to his thought, word and action, the more we will sincerely journey toward unity.

I wish to assure you that, following the example of my predecessors, I firmly intend to continue on the path of ecumenical dialogue, and I thank the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity for the help they continue to offer on my behalf toward this noble cause.  I ask you, dear brothers and sisters, to share my cordial greetings and the assurance of my remembrance in the Lord Jesus with the Churches and the Christian communities that you represent, and I ask you the charity of a special prayer for me, that I may be a Pastor according to the heart of Christ.

And now I turn to you, distinguished representatives of the Jewish people, to whom we are bound with a special spiritual bond, since the moment when, as the Second Vatican Council affirmed the Church of Christ recognizes that the roots of its faith and of its election are found, according to the divine mystery of salvation, in the patriarchs, in Moses, and in the prophets (Dich. Nostra aetate, 4). I thank you for your presence and I am confident that, with the help of the Most High, we can continue the profitable fraternal dialogue that the Council wished for, just as it is being effectively realized, and has been bearing much fruit especially during the recent decades.

Next, I greet and thank all of you, dear friends belonging to other religious traditions: first and foremost the Muslims, who adore the one God, living and merciful, and call upon Him in prayer, and all of you.  I very much appreciate your presence: in it I see a tangible sign of your willingness to believe in mutual esteem and cooperation for the common good of humanity.

The Catholic Church is aware of the importance of promoting friendship and respect between men and women of diverse religious traditions - I want to repeat this: the promotion of friendship and respect between men and women of diverse religious traditions - it also attests to the precious work which is being accomplished by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.  It is also aware of the mutual responsibility we all bear toward our world, and toward the whole world, which we must love and care for.  And we can do much for the good of the less fortunate, especially those who are weak and suffering, in order to promote justice, reconciliation and peace.  But above all, we must keep alive in the world a thirst for the absolute, not leaving room for any human being to be perceived solely in one dimension, according to which humanity is reduced to what is produced or what is consumed: this is one of the most dangerous pitfalls of our time.

In recent history, we know how much violence has resulted from attempts to remove God and the divine from the horizon of humanity, and we know the value of witnessing in our society to openness and transcendence that is inherent in the human heart.  In this, we feel closely also all those men and women who, though they may not admit belonging to any religious tradition, still feel the need to search for truth, goodness and beauty, the truth, goodness and beauty of God, and who are our precious allies in efforts to defend the dignity of mankind, in the construction of a peaceful coexistence between peoples and in our efforts to carefully guard and care for creation.

Dear friends, thank you for your presence.  To all of you, I offer my cordial and fraternal greetings.