At 10:30 this morning, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience an Ecumenical delegation from the Lutheran Church of Finland who are marking their annual pilgrimage to Rome to celebrate the Feast of Saint Enrico, the patron saint of their country.
Dear brothers and friends from Finland.
Grace to you and peace from God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 1:7). I wish you all a very warm welcome, as my predecessors, Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI have also done for the past twenty-five years to welcome the visits of your ecumenical delegations on the occasion of the Feast of Saint Enrico, the patron saint of Finland.
To the members of the community at Corinth, which knew much division, the apostle would ask: Was Christ a cause for division? (1 Cor 1:13) This question was chosen as the theme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity which will begin tomorrow; today, this same question is asked of us. In answer to some voices who would have us believe that full and visible unity within the Church is no longer possible, we are invited to continue our ecumenical efforts, faithful to the plea that the Lord Jesus asked of the Father: that they may all be one (Jn 17:21).
In our time, even the ecumenical journey and the relations between Christians are experiencing significant changes, due to the fact that first of all, we are called to profess our faith in the context of a society and culture where references to God and to the transcendental nature of life are increasingly rare. We notice this truth in Europe, but not only there.
For this very reason, our witness needs to be focused on the heart of our faith, on the proclamation of the love of God which is made known in Christ his Son. Here we find space to grow in communion and in unity between us, promoting spiritual ecumenism, that is born directly from the commandment of love left by Jesus to his disciples. The Second Vatican Council made reference to this dimension: This change of heart and holiness of life, along with public and private prayer for the unity of Christians, should be regarded as the soul of the whole ecumenical movement, and merits the name, spiritual ecumenism. (Decree, Unitatis redintegratio, 8). Ecumenism is in fact a spiritual process, that is realized in the faithful obedience to the Father, in the fulfillment of the will of Christ and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Let us unceasingly invoke, therefore, the help of the grace of God and the illumination of the Holy Spirit, that introduces us in the whole truth, bearer of reconciliation and of communion.
Renewing my heartfelt welcome, I wholeheartedly invoke over you, over all Christians in Finland and over your country, the blessing of God.
Greetings of His Holiness, Pope Francis
for the Ecumenical delegation from
the Lutheran Church of Finland
Dear brothers and friends from Finland.
Grace to you and peace from God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 1:7). I wish you all a very warm welcome, as my predecessors, Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI have also done for the past twenty-five years to welcome the visits of your ecumenical delegations on the occasion of the Feast of Saint Enrico, the patron saint of Finland.
To the members of the community at Corinth, which knew much division, the apostle would ask: Was Christ a cause for division? (1 Cor 1:13) This question was chosen as the theme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity which will begin tomorrow; today, this same question is asked of us. In answer to some voices who would have us believe that full and visible unity within the Church is no longer possible, we are invited to continue our ecumenical efforts, faithful to the plea that the Lord Jesus asked of the Father: that they may all be one (Jn 17:21).
In our time, even the ecumenical journey and the relations between Christians are experiencing significant changes, due to the fact that first of all, we are called to profess our faith in the context of a society and culture where references to God and to the transcendental nature of life are increasingly rare. We notice this truth in Europe, but not only there.
For this very reason, our witness needs to be focused on the heart of our faith, on the proclamation of the love of God which is made known in Christ his Son. Here we find space to grow in communion and in unity between us, promoting spiritual ecumenism, that is born directly from the commandment of love left by Jesus to his disciples. The Second Vatican Council made reference to this dimension: This change of heart and holiness of life, along with public and private prayer for the unity of Christians, should be regarded as the soul of the whole ecumenical movement, and merits the name, spiritual ecumenism. (Decree, Unitatis redintegratio, 8). Ecumenism is in fact a spiritual process, that is realized in the faithful obedience to the Father, in the fulfillment of the will of Christ and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Let us unceasingly invoke, therefore, the help of the grace of God and the illumination of the Holy Spirit, that introduces us in the whole truth, bearer of reconciliation and of communion.
Renewing my heartfelt welcome, I wholeheartedly invoke over you, over all Christians in Finland and over your country, the blessing of God.
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