At 10:00am today, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience an Ecumenical Delegation from the Lutheran Church in Finland on the occasion of the annual ecumenical pilgrimage to Rome to celebrate the Feast of Saint Henrik, patron of that country.
Dear brothers and sisters,
I welcome you with joy. For several decades your ecumenical pilgrimage to Rome on the occasion of the feast of Saint Henrik allows our fraternal gathering and contributes to the promotion of Christian unity.
The common commitment to ecumenism is an essential requirement of the faith we profess, a requirement that comes from our very identity as disciples of Jesus. And as disciples, since we follow the same Lord, we understand more and more that ecumenism is a journey, a journey which, as the various Pontiffs have constantly underscored since the Second Vatican Council, is irreversible. This is not an optional path. The unity among us grows along this path: therefore your annual pilgrimage to Rome is a particularly eloquent sign, for which I thank you. It invites us to walk together the path of unity which, in the grace of the Holy Spirit, brings us together with Christ our Lord as beloved children of the Father and, therefore, as brothers and sisters among us. I am grateful to the Lutheran Bishop of Kuopio, both for his kind words and for his precious prayers, and also for having brought to our attention the fact that we have above all a service of charity and a testimony of common faith to be exercised. They are founded in Baptism, in our being Christians: this is the focus! Indeed, as we were reminded, the various sociological classifications, which are often superficially attributed to Christians, are secondary or useless. When we pray together, when together we proclaim the Gospel and serve the poor and the needy, we find ourselves on the journey and the journey itself progresses towards the goal of visible unity.
Even the theological and ecclesiological questions that still distance us can only be resolved during this common journey - they will never be resolved if we remain still - without forcing our hand and without foreseeing how and when this will happen. But we can be sure that, if we are docile, the Holy Spirit will guide us in ways that we can not even imagine today. In the meantime, we are called to do all we can to encourage the meeting and to resolve in charity any misunderstandings, hostilities and prejudices that may have spoiled our relationships over the centuries. The recent Declaration by the Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue Commission on the Church, the Eucharist and the Ministry, entitled Communion in Growth, contributed to the journey towards theological consensus. Dialogue must be continued, carrying forward that which has already been started.
We are not alone on the way. There are common witnesses who, like Saint Henrik, precede us on our journey. So it is really true - thank you for reminding us of this too - that Tradition is not a dilemma, but a gift. Tradition refers to the Latin verb tradere, which means to deliver. Tradition is not something to appropriate us or to distinguish ourselves, but a delivery that has been entrusted to us to enrich each other. We are always called to return to the original delivery, from which the river of Tradition flows: it is the open rib of Christ on the cross. There He gave us all of himself, giving us his Spirit as well (cf Jn 19: 30.34). From there came our life as believers, there is our perennial regeneration. There we find the strength to carry each other's weights and crosses. Preceded and sustained by those who gave their lives out of love for the Lord and for our brothers and sisters, we are called to never tire of our journey.
Every year, Christians throughout the world make a special appointment to ask the Lord for greater unity. It is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which this year focuses on the biblical verse Try to be truly just (cf Deut 16:18-20). It is in the plural and reminds us that justice can not be done alone: justice for all is sought together. In a world torn by war, hatred, nationalism and division, common prayer and commitment for greater justice are not postponed. These are omissions we can not afford. I trust that our common witness of prayer and faith will bear fruit and that your visit will strengthen the already solid collaboration between Lutherans, Orthodox and Catholics in Finland. For this and for each of you I invoke God's abundant grace, asking you to continue to pray for me. Thank you.
(Original text in Italian)
Greetings offered by His Holiness, Pope Francis
to the ecumenical delegation from Finland
Dear brothers and sisters,
I welcome you with joy. For several decades your ecumenical pilgrimage to Rome on the occasion of the feast of Saint Henrik allows our fraternal gathering and contributes to the promotion of Christian unity.
The common commitment to ecumenism is an essential requirement of the faith we profess, a requirement that comes from our very identity as disciples of Jesus. And as disciples, since we follow the same Lord, we understand more and more that ecumenism is a journey, a journey which, as the various Pontiffs have constantly underscored since the Second Vatican Council, is irreversible. This is not an optional path. The unity among us grows along this path: therefore your annual pilgrimage to Rome is a particularly eloquent sign, for which I thank you. It invites us to walk together the path of unity which, in the grace of the Holy Spirit, brings us together with Christ our Lord as beloved children of the Father and, therefore, as brothers and sisters among us. I am grateful to the Lutheran Bishop of Kuopio, both for his kind words and for his precious prayers, and also for having brought to our attention the fact that we have above all a service of charity and a testimony of common faith to be exercised. They are founded in Baptism, in our being Christians: this is the focus! Indeed, as we were reminded, the various sociological classifications, which are often superficially attributed to Christians, are secondary or useless. When we pray together, when together we proclaim the Gospel and serve the poor and the needy, we find ourselves on the journey and the journey itself progresses towards the goal of visible unity.
Even the theological and ecclesiological questions that still distance us can only be resolved during this common journey - they will never be resolved if we remain still - without forcing our hand and without foreseeing how and when this will happen. But we can be sure that, if we are docile, the Holy Spirit will guide us in ways that we can not even imagine today. In the meantime, we are called to do all we can to encourage the meeting and to resolve in charity any misunderstandings, hostilities and prejudices that may have spoiled our relationships over the centuries. The recent Declaration by the Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue Commission on the Church, the Eucharist and the Ministry, entitled Communion in Growth, contributed to the journey towards theological consensus. Dialogue must be continued, carrying forward that which has already been started.
We are not alone on the way. There are common witnesses who, like Saint Henrik, precede us on our journey. So it is really true - thank you for reminding us of this too - that Tradition is not a dilemma, but a gift. Tradition refers to the Latin verb tradere, which means to deliver. Tradition is not something to appropriate us or to distinguish ourselves, but a delivery that has been entrusted to us to enrich each other. We are always called to return to the original delivery, from which the river of Tradition flows: it is the open rib of Christ on the cross. There He gave us all of himself, giving us his Spirit as well (cf Jn 19: 30.34). From there came our life as believers, there is our perennial regeneration. There we find the strength to carry each other's weights and crosses. Preceded and sustained by those who gave their lives out of love for the Lord and for our brothers and sisters, we are called to never tire of our journey.
Every year, Christians throughout the world make a special appointment to ask the Lord for greater unity. It is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which this year focuses on the biblical verse Try to be truly just (cf Deut 16:18-20). It is in the plural and reminds us that justice can not be done alone: justice for all is sought together. In a world torn by war, hatred, nationalism and division, common prayer and commitment for greater justice are not postponed. These are omissions we can not afford. I trust that our common witness of prayer and faith will bear fruit and that your visit will strengthen the already solid collaboration between Lutherans, Orthodox and Catholics in Finland. For this and for each of you I invoke God's abundant grace, asking you to continue to pray for me. Thank you.
(Original text in Italian)
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