Vatican City, Jun 21, 2018 / 08:29 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Speaking to ecumenical leaders Thursday, Pope Francis said Christian unity in many ways depends on a willingness to go out of oneself to meet the needs of others, and called for a “new evangelical outreach” among Christian communities.
In a June 21 speech, the pope voiced concern over what he said is a growing impression that ecumenism is divorced from missionary outreach, saying the mission aspect of Christianity “cannot be neglected nor emptied of its content.”
Missionary outreach, he said, “determines our very identity,” since the preaching the Gospel is core to the Christian identity. And while the ways in which this mission is carried out might vary, we must constantly remind ourselves that Christ’s Church grows by attraction.”
To this end, Francis said a “new evangelical outreach” is needed among Christians of different confessions, who are called to be one people that “experiences and shares the joy of the Gospel, praises the Lord and serves our brothers and sisters.”
Francis voiced his conviction that “an increased missionary impulse” would spur Christians toward greater unity, leading to an “ecumenical spring” which, despite the “constant vacillations” among different denominational communities, would allow them to gather together around Jesus Christ.
The pope spoke during a June 21 ecumenical meeting in Geneva to mark the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches.
Founded in 1948, the World Council of Churches (WCC) is a global fellowship of churches whose goal is to promote unity among different Christian confessions. With some 348 members worldwide, the organization has long been a driving force for ecumenism in Europe.
Members are present in 110 countries and represent over 500 million Christians, including Orthodox, Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran and Methodist churches, as well as many Reformed, United and Independent churches.
The majority of the founding members initially came from Europe and North America, however, today the bulk of the WCC membership is in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East and the Pacific. The Holy See is not a member of the WCC, but it is an observer, and collaborates with the organization in several areas.
Pope Francis visited the WCC headquarters during his June 21 daytrip to Geneva, which he made specifically for the 70th anniversary celebrations.
After his arrival, the pope met with the President of the Swedish Confederation, Alain Berset, and led an ecumenical prayer encounter, telling attendees that their love for Christ must overcome divisions rooted in party preferences and differences in belief.
Francis then lunched with ecumenical leaders from around the world before returning to the WCC headquarters for his ecumenical meeting. After the gathering, Pope Francis will celebrate Mass for Switzerland’s Catholic population before returning to Rome.
In his address at the ecumenical meeting, Pope Francis pointed to the biblical significance of the number 70, noting how in the Gospel Jesus tells his disciples to forgive one another “not only seven times, but seventy times seven.”
That number, the pope said, is not a limit and nor does it quantify justice, but rather, it “opens up a vast horizon” and “serves as the measure of a charity capable of infinite forgiveness.”
After centuries of conflict among Christian communities, this charity “now allows us to come together as brothers and sisters, at peace and full of gratitude to God our Father,” he said, adding that the day’s gathering is the fruit of the forgiveness and efforts toward unity of many who have come before them.
“Out of heartfelt love for Jesus, they did not allow themselves to be mired in disagreements, but instead looked courageously to the future, believing in unity and breaking down barriers of suspicion and of fear,” he said.
Those working in the ecumenical field today are heirs to the “to the faith, charity and hope of all those who, by the nonviolent power of the Gospel, found the courage to change the course of history,” Francis said.
While in the past this history “had led us to mutual distrust and estrangement, and thus contributed to the infernal spiral of continual fragmentation,” the Holy Spirit has changed the route, “and a path both old and new has been irrevocably paved: the path of a reconciled communion aimed at the visible manifestation of the fraternity that even now unites believer.”
Pope Francis also noted that the number 70 reflects the number of disciples Jesus sent out two-by-two in the Gospel, which implies that in order to be a true disciple, one must “become an apostle, a missionary,” going beyond division to spread the Good News.
Pointing to the theme of the day’s meeting, “Walking, Praying and Working Together,” the pope said walking is a two-fold movement which implies both going “in and out,” which means going in toward the center, which is Christ, and out toward “the existential peripheries” of the world.
Prayer is “the oxygen of ecumenism,” he said. “Without prayer, communion becomes stifling and makes no progress, because we prevent the wind of the Spirit from driving us forward.” The pope then urged attendes to ask themselves how often they pray for one another, and for unity.
On the point of walking together, Francis pointed to several ongoing initiatives in which the Holy See already collaborates with ecumenical leaders, including the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism; collaboration with the Office for Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation and the joint preparation of texts for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, among others.
He also praised the WCC’s Bossey Ecumenical Institute for their work in training both pastoral and academic leaders for different Christian churches throughout the world.
“The work of our Christian communities is rightly defined by the word ‘diakonia,’” a Greek term meaning service to others, he said, adding that credibility of the Gospel “is put to the test by the way Christians respond to the cry of all those, in every part of the world, who suffer unjustly from the baleful spread of an exclusion that, by generating poverty, foments conflicts.”
With vulnerable populations becoming increasingly marginalized and the rich becoming more wealthy, and with Christian persecution increasing throughout the world, Christians themselves are called to draw near to those who suffer, remembering that unity is already established in the “ecumenism of blood,” he said.
Pope Francis closed his address urging attendees to encourage one another while avoiding the temptation “to absolutize certain cultural paradigms and get caught up in partisan interests.”
“Let us help men and women of good will to grow in concern for events and situations that affect a great part of humanity but seldom make it to the front page. We cannot look the other way,” he said, adding that “it is problematic when Christians appear indifferent towards those in need.”
More troubling still, he said, is the certainty shown by some, “who consider their own blessings clear signs of God’s predilection rather than a summons to responsible service of the human family and the protection of creation.”
Asking what each community can concretely do together, the pope urged participants not to hesitate in putting a plan together when ideas arise, so as to “experience a more intense fraternity in the exercise of concrete charity.”
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That was a moving moment. What I fear is that we have not “moved” beyond it. We will sentimentally remember the Pope in that picture (and maybe defer from being critical because he’s sick) but this trip down memory lane has to be joined to the purification of memory. And THAT involves an honest, public, and broadly participatory (even more than “synodal”) input that asks and assesses the performance of the “field hospital” (that fled the battlefield for at least a half a year in most places), whether the protocols followed were good, and what we will do the next time something like this threatens. THAT kind of discussion doesn’t seem to be forthcoming (COVID isn’t even mentioned in the Synodal Final Document, a risible omission considering it closed the ecclesial communion, participation, and mission for months if not a year). If it isn’t, these pictures are nice but they’re kind of like Facebook: “We thought we’d share a memory with you….”
Unfortunately, when it came to Covid, many at the highest levels of Church leadership appeared to have no more faith than anyone else– and today’s bishops should be leading the call for accountability for the sins of 2020-2023, except that many of them are among the guilty. We need to make sure that the abuses of power in secular government and the cowardice of Church leaders is not repeated.
I posted this over at NC Register. (Rather obviously, I did not defer because the Pope is not doing well physically. Five years later, I’m still salty about this.)
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“Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”
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Seriously? It wasn’t the laity that closed the parishes, withheld the Eucharist, refused to celebrate weddings, denied Last Rites, demanded everyone be vaccinated with an experimental vaccine. Not that a lot of folks would not have come to Mass if parishes had not been closed–many would have stayed home, but many would have gone. Many would have joined together to pray the rosary in front of a Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament if that had been an option.
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But it wasn’t. This is on the Hierarchy, and to the best of my knowledge, there has been no acknowledgement or apology.
Well said, MrsHess.
The photo at the top says more than a thousand words. What the solitary man said may have been recorded but no one was present to listen. And now, who cares?
I don’t claim to be good at math, but if y’all will check my figures, I’d appreciate that. The Church in Africa grew by 9 million members from 2022 to 2023, while the rest of the world added only another 7 million?? Can we conclude that the historical home of Christendom continue to shed Christians while the number of Catholics grows and apparently thrives in traditional missionary land.
It’s known. Confidence, faith, and fearless minds add life to our life span.
🕊️ Thoughtful reflections here—COVID challenged the Church deeply, not just spiritually but institutionally. 😔🙏 A sincere, open reckoning is needed to heal, learn, and ensure we never close the doors on the faithful again. ⛪💔 #FaithAndAccountability #ChurchAfterCovid
⛪🌧️ That unforgettable moment in the rain still speaks volumes today — faith over fear. Thank you, Pope Francis, for reminding us to trust in God’s presence through every storm. 🙏🌍 #StatioOrbis #DoNotBeAfraid
“Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”
Sad the man who participated in locking down of parishes and preventing the Mass. And participated in mandatory masks, forced vaccination schemes and vaccine pass ports.