CONTENTS. VISIT TO ROME OF AN ECUMENICAL DELEGATION FROM FINLAND FOR THE FEAST OF ST HENRY, January

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1 N. 136 (2011/I) CONTENTS POPE BENEDICT XVI AND ECUMENISM... 1 VISIT TO ROME OF AN ECUMENICAL DELEGATION FROM FINLAND FOR THE FEAST OF ST HENRY, January VISIT TO ROME OF A DELEGATION OF THE UNITED EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF GERMANY, January WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY, Rome, January CARDINAL KURT KOCH S FIRST VISIT TO THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES, Geneva, 9-10 May ECUMENICAL NEWS International Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, Rome, January Press Release for the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission ARCIC III, 18 March Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission ARCIC III, Bose, Italy, May International Reformed-Catholic Dialogue, Rome, 3-9 April International Catholic-Pentecostal Dialogue, Rome, June COMMISSION FOR RELIGIOUS RELATIONS WITH THE JEWS Joint Declaration of the 21 st International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee Meeting, Paris, 27 February 2 March Bilateral Commission Meeting of the Delegations of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the Holy See s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, Jerusalem, March DOCUMENTATION SUPPLEMENT Week of Prayer for Christian Unity OFFICES: via della Conciliazione, Rome (Italy). Telephones: (Editorial Office) (Administration) Fax: vcaroli@christianunity.va

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3 POPE BENEDICT XVI AND ECUMENISM TO THE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE LUTHERAN WORLD FEDERATION 16 December 2010 On Thursday 16 December, the Holy Father received the President of the Lutheran World Federation, Bishop Munib A. Younan and the General Secretary, Reverend Martin Junge, in his Private Library. The following is the text of the Pope s address, given in English. Dear Bishop Younan, dear Lutheran friends, I am happy to greet the representatives of the Lutheran World Federation on the occasion of your official visit to Rome. I offer my cordial best wishes to Bishop Munib Younan and the Reverend Martin Junge on their respective elections as President and General Secretary, together with my prayers for their term of service. Five years ago, at the beginning of my pontificate, I had the joy of receiving your predecessors and expressing my hope that the close contacts and intensive dialogue which have characterized ecumenical relations between Catholics and Lutherans would continue to bear rich fruit. With gratitude we can take stock of the many significant fruits produced by these decades of bilateral discussions. With God s help it has been possible slowly and patiently to remove barriers and to foster visible bonds of unity by means of theological dialogue and practical cooperation, especially at the level of local communities. Last year marked the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, which has proved a significant step along the difficult path towards re-establishing full unity among Christians and a stimulus to further ecumenical discussion. In these years leading up to the fivehundredth anniversary of the events of fifteen seventeen, Catholics and Lutherans are called to reflect anew on where our journey towards unity has led us and to implore the Lord s guidance and help for the future. I am pleased to note that, for the occasion, the International Lutheran Roman Catholic Commission on Unity is preparing a joint text which will document what Lutherans and Catholics are able to * Sources of the texts are designated as follows: OR: L Osservatore Romano, daily edition in Italian; ORE: L Osservatore Romano, weekly edition in English. If texts come from sources other than L Osservatore Romano, this will be noted. When translation is made by the Information Service it is indicated by the abbreviation: IS. say together at this point regarding our closer relations after almost five centuries of separation. In order to clarify further the understanding of the Church, which is the main focus of ecumenical dialogue today, the Commission is studying the theme: Baptism and Growing Church Communion. It is my hope that these ecumenical activities will provide fresh opportunities for Catholics and Lutherans to grow closer in their lives, their witness to the Gospel, and their efforts to bring the light of Christ to all dimensions of society. In these days of joyful preparation for the celebration of Christmas, let us entrust one another, and our common quest for Christian unity to the Lord, who is himself the genuine newness which surpasses all our human expectations (cf. IRENAEUS, Adv. Haer., IV, 34, 1). May the peace and joy of this Christmas season be with you all! ORE, 5 January 2011 ANGELUS: SOLIDARITY WITH CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY IN EGYPT 2 January 2011 After praying the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St Peter s Square on Sunday, the Pope reflected on the attack suffered by the Christian Coptic community in Egypt, the day before. The following is a translation of the Pope s words pronounced in Italian and Spanish. Yesterday morning we learned with sorrow the news of the serious attack on the Christian Coptic community in Alexandria, Egypt. This despicable act of death, like the current trend of setting bombs close to the homes of Christians in Iraq to force them to leave, offends God and the whole of humanity which, only yesterday was praying for peace and began a New Year with hope. In the face of this strategy of violence that is targeting Christians with consequences on the entire population, I pray for the victims and their relatives and I encourage the ecclesial communities to persevere in faith and in the witness of non-violence which comes to us from the Gospel. I am also thinking of the numerous pastoral workers killed in 2010 in various parts of the world: we likewise address to them our affectionate remembrance before the Lord. Let us remain united in Christ, our hope and our peace! ORE, 5 January

4 TO THE JOINT INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION FOR THEOLOGICAL DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE ORIENTAL ORTHODOX CHURCHES 28 January 2011 The Holy Father received the members of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches at an Audience on Friday morning 28 January in the Concistory Hall of the Apostolic Palace. The following is the Pope s discourse which was delivered in English. Your Eminences, Your Excellencies, Dear Brothers in Christ, It is with great joy that I welcome you, the members of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches. Through you I gladly extend fraternal greetings to my venerable Brothers, the Heads of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. I am grateful for the work of the Commission which began in January 2003 as a shared initiative of the ecclesial authorities of the family of the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. As you know, the first phase of the dialogue, from 2003 to 2009, resulted in the common text entitled Nature, Constitution and Mission of the Church. The document outlined aspects of fundamental ecclesiological principles that we share and identified issues requiring deeper reflection in successive phases of the dialogue. We can only be grateful that after almost fifteen hundred years of separation we still find agreement about the sacramental nature of the Church, about apostolic succession in priestly service and about the impelling need to bear witness to the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the world. In the second phase the Commission has reflected from an historical perspective on the ways in which the Churches expressed their communion down the ages. During the meeting this week you are deepening your study of the communion and communication that existed between the Churches until the midfifth century of Christian history, as well as the role played by monasticism in the life of the early Church. We must be confident that your theological reflection will lead our Churches not only to understand each other more deeply, but resolutely to continue our journey decisively towards the full communion to which we are called by the will of Christ. For this intention we have lifted up our common prayer during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity which has just ended. Many of you come from regions where Christian individuals and communities face trials and difficulties that are a cause of deep concern for us all. All Christians need to work together in mutual acceptance and trust in order to serve the cause of peace and justice. May the intercession and example of the many martyrs and saints, who have given courageous witness to Christ in all our Churches, sustain and strengthen you and your Christian communities. With sentiments of fraternal affection I invoke upon all of you the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. ORE, 2 February

5 VISIT TO ROME OF AN ECUMENICAL DELEGATION FROM FINLAND FOR THE FEAST OF ST HENRY January 2011 AUDIENCE WITH POPE BENEDICT XVI 15 January 2011 On Saturday 15 January, the Holy Father received in his private library an Ecumenical Delegation from Finland. Their visit was in honour of the Feast of St Henry, the Patron of Finland. The following is a translation of the Pope s address, which was given in German. Your Excellencies, Dear friends from Finland, I welcome you with great joy on the occasion of your annual ecumenical pilgrimage to Rome to celebrate the Feast of St Henry, Patron of your beloved land. Every year, during this period, your traditional pilgrimage testifies to the sincere, friendly and helpful relations which have been established between Lutherans and Catholics, as well as in general between all the Christians in your Country. Even though we have not yet achieved the objective of the ecumenical movement, namely full unity of faith, through dialogue many elements of agreement and closeness have matured which strengthen our general desire to do the will of our Lord Jesus Christ: that they may all be one (Jn 17:21). One result recently obtained that deserves attention was the conclusive report on the theme of justification in the life of the Church. This report was prepared by a group centred on Nordic Catholic-Lutheran dialogue in Finland and Sweden, that met last year. In theology and in faith everything is linked together, and thus a common deeper understanding of the justification will help us to understand together the nature of the Church better and, as you mentioned, the episcopal ministry. Thus it will also help us to find the unity of the Church in a concrete form and thereby to be more capable, as you observed, to explain the faith to all people of today who ask each other about it and to make it more comprehensible to them so that they see that he is the answer, that Christ is the Redeemer for us all. Thus our hope remains alive that, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, many people involved in the ecumenical field, competent and aware, will contribute to the realization of this important ecumenical task and, always guided by the Holy Spirit, will be able to forge ahead. Having said this, it is implied that the efficacy of our efforts cannot come solely from study and discussion, but above all depend on our constant prayer, on our life in conformity with the will of God, because ecumenicism is not our work but rather a fruit of God s action. At the same time, we are all conscious of the fact that in recent years the ecumenical path, from certain points of view, has become more difficult and certainly more demanding. Questions will be asked concerning the ecumenical method and the breakthroughs of past years will be mentioned, as well as the uncertainty of the future, and the problems of our time with faith in general. In this light, your annual pilgrimage to Rome for the Feast of St Henry is an important event, a sign and an encouragement for our ecumenical efforts, for our certainty that we must walk together and that Christ is the way for humanity. Your pilgrimage helps us to look back with joy at what has been achieved so far and to look to the future with the desire to take on a task full of faith and responsibility. On the occasion of your visit, we all wish to reinforce our certainty of the fact that the Holy Spirit, who reawakens us, accompanies us and to this day has made the ecumenical movement fruitful, may continue in this way also in the future. I firmly hope that your visit to Rome will strengthen the future collaboration of Lutherans and Catholics, and between all the Christians in Finland. Looking forward to the upcoming Week of Prayer for Christian Unity let us pray that the spirit of truth will lead us to even greater love and brotherhood. May God grant you his rich Blessing in the newly begun year. GREETING OF BISHOP DR MATTI REPO, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland ORE, 19 January 2011 Your Holiness, it gives me great joy to greet you in the name of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, together with other delegates from the Ecumenical Council of Finland. Our visit forms part of an ecumenical pilgrimage which is undertaken each year from Finland to Rome. As Lutherans, Catholics and Orthodox together we wish to perpetuate the 3

6 memory of Saint Henrik, the first bishop of Finland, and to pray for the unity of the church. In recent years we Lutherans in the northern European national churches have seen many members leave the church. The gospel which has been proclaimed to us by numerous servants of the church over the course of many centuries does not seem to be credible to many young adults today. Many doubt that the Christian faith is able to provide a meaningful basis for their lives. We face the challenge of listening carefully to their criticism and entering into dialogue with them in order to proclaim the gospel faithfully, clearly and authentically. From the beginning, the ecumenical movement has emphasised the mission of the church. The gospel not only means the forgiveness of sins, it is also a force for renewal which gives hope and supports our future life. Our common faith admonishes us to defend the dignity of mankind against all destructive forces and to bear witness to redemption in Christ. Holy Father, you know that Lutherans and Catholics in Finland and Sweden have recently published a joint dialogue report on Justification in the Life of the Church. In this dialogue we have together emphasised the significance of the episcopal office as a sign of the unity and continuity of the church in its apostolic mission. According to this report, bishops have a particular personal and collegial responsibility as shepherds who in the name of Christ proclaim the gospel and lead the church in its service to the world. This small glass dove is a symbol of the mission of the church. The church has a mission from its Lord Christ, a mission of peace in the power of the Holy Spirit. The dove as an emblem has been taken from the crest of the diocese of Tampere. In the crest the dove carries a small leaf which comes from an olive tree. It refers to a medieval poem by Saint Henrik. According to the poem Ramus virens olivorum, the first bishop brought the gospel to Finland as the dove brought Noah a green olive leaf as a sign of hope and peace. Most Holy Father, may this dove be a symbol of hope for a future time when we as Lutherans and Catholics will also be able to give a common sign of our faith in the celebration of the sacrament of the Eucharist. 4

7 VISIT TO ROME OF A DELEGATION OF THE UNITED EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF GERMANY January 2011 On the occasion of the 500 th anniversary of Martin Luther s visit to Rome, a delegation of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany was received by the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI. The delegation s journey to Rome from January coincided with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity providing an appropriate context for several events. Among these was the blessing of an olive tree, planted for the occasion in commemoration of the recent decades of dialogue between the Catholic Church and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany. During its stay in Rome, the delegation also visited the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity where it met with the President, Cardinal Kurt Koch. We publish here below the Press Release issued by the Pontifical Council, the discourse of the Holy Father and Cardinal Koch s homily at the blessing of the Olive tree. PRESS RELEASE 23 January 2011 PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN UNITY During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, a delegation of several representatives of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany, led by Bishop Dr Johannes Friedrich (Munich), will visit Rome for meetings with the Holy Father and at the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. On Sunday, 23 January 2011, the Delegation, together with Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council, Cardinal Francesco Monterisi, Archpriest of the Basilica of St-Paul-Outside-the-Walls, Rev. Abbot Edmund Power OSB and the Benedictine Community as well as numerous ecumenical guests will take part in a ceremony scheduled for 16.00, during which an olive tree will be planted and blessed at the Basilica in memory of the 500 th anniversary of Martin Luther s journey to Rome in the winter of 1510/1511, recalling the ecumenical project of the Garden of Luther in Wittenberg, Germany. The Tree is a sign of the growth in ecumenical communion achieved so far between Catholics and Lutherans. The United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany, born from Luther s reform in the XVI th century, comprises all the Lutheran faithful in Germany, approximately 18 million people. It has a fundamental role within the Lutheran World Federation, of which it is member. The nineteen Protestant delegates include the official responsible for relations with Catholics, Bishop Prof. Dr. Friedrich Weber (Braunschweig) and the former prime minister of Baviera, Dr Günter Beckstein. The Lutheran representatives will have conversations with the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity on the current state of ecumenical relations and the possibilities for further growth in existing communion. The following is the detailed programme: 16,00: gathering at the main entrance of the Basilica of St-Paul-Outside-the-Walls; greeting of Cardinal Monterisi; planting and blessing of the tree by Cardinal Koch; brief visit to the Basilica with Rev. Abbot Edmund Power OSB; lastly at 17,00, ecumenical vespers with the Benedictine monks. The following Monday, 24 January, the Evangelical-Lutheran Delegation will be received in audience by the Holy Father Benedict XVI. The encounter at St Paul s is a further sign that dialogue between the two communities has become a reality and that the Catholic Church ecumenical commitment, as Pope John Paul II points out in his encyclical Ut unim sint and frequently repeated by Pope Benedict XVI, is irrevocable and irreversible. THE HOLY FATHER S ADDRESS TO THE DELEGATION The delegation led by Bishop Dr. Friedrich Weber, was received in the Pope s Private Library on Monday morning, 24 January. The Holy Father expressed the hope that issues regarding human life will not give rise to new confessional differences. The following is an English translation of the Pope s Address, which was given in German. Dear Bishop Friedrich, Dear Friends from Germany, I extend a cordial welcome to all of you, who represent the leaders of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany, to the Apostolic Palace, and I am delighted that you have come to Rome as a Delegation at the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Thereby you also show that our deep longing for unity can only bear fruit if it is rooted in common prayer. I would like to thank you, dear Bishop, in particular, for your words, that with great sincerity, 5

8 express the common effort for deeper unity among all Christians. In the meantime, the official dialogue between Lutherans and Catholics as written here can look back at more than 50 years of intense work. You mentioned 30 years. I think that it was 30 years ago, after the Pope s Visit, when we officially initiated the dialogue but we had in fact already been dialoguing for some time. I too was a member of the Jaeger- Stählin-Kreis that came into being directly after the War. Therefore, one can speak of either 50 or 30 years. Notwithstanding the theological differences that continue to exist on questions that in part are fundamental, a togetherness has developed between us which is increasingly becoming the basis of communion lived in faith and in spirituality between Lutherans and Catholics. What has already been achieved reinforces our trust in continuing the dialogue, for only in this way can we stay together on that path which is ultimately Jesus Christ himself. Hence the Catholic Church s commitment to ecumenism, as my Venerable Predecessor Pope John Paul II said in his Encyclical Ut Unum Sint, is not a mere strategy of communication in a changing world, but a fundamental commitment of the Church, starting with her own mission (cf. nn ). To some of our contemporaries the common goal of full and visible unity of Christians today seems once again to be very distant. The conversation partners in the ecumenical dialogue express ideas on the unity of the Church that are entirely different. I share the concern of many Christians that the fruits of the ecumenical endeavour, above all in relation to the idea of Church and ministry, are still not sufficiently acknowledged by the ecumenical spokespeople. However, even if new difficulties always arise, let us look with hope to the future. Although the divisions among Christians are an obstacle to fully moulding catholicity in the reality of the Church s life as was promised in Christ and through Christ (cf. Unitatis Redintegratio, n. 4), we trust in the fact that under the Holy Spirit s guidance ecumenical dialogue, such an important instrument in the Church s life, will serve to overcome this conflict. This will also happen, in the first place, through the theological dialogue which must contribute to an understanding of the open-ended questions, that are obstacles on the path to visible unity and to the common celebration of the Eucharist as the sacrament of unity among Christians. I am pleased to say that in Germany the international Lutheran-Catholic dialogue on the topic: Baptism and growing ecclesial communion, has been flanked by a bilateral commission for dialogue, since 2009, between the Bishops Conference and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany, which has resumed its activity on the topic: God and the dignity of man. This thematic context also includes in particular the problems that have recently arisen in relation to the protection and dignity of human life, as well as urgent questions on the family, marriage and sexuality, which cannot be silenced or neglected merely to avoid endangering the ecumenical consensus attained so far. We hope that in these important questions related to life, new confessional differences will not emerge but rather that we will be able together to testify to the world and to men what the Lord has shown us and is showing us. Today ecumenical dialogue can no longer be separated from the reality and the faith life of our Churches without harming them. Thus, let us turn our gaze together to the year 2017, which recalls the posting of Martin Luther s theses on Indulgences 500 years ago. On that occasion, Lutherans and Catholics will have the opportunity to celebrate throughout the world a common ecumenical commemoration, to strive for fundamental questions at the global level, not as you yourself have just said in the form of a triumphant celebration, but as a common profession of our faith in the Triune God, in common obedience to Our Lord and to his Word. We must give an important place to common prayer and to interior prayer addressed to our Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of mutual wrongs and for culpability relative to the divisions. Part of this purification of conscience is the mutual exchange appraising the 1,500 years that preceded the Reformation, and which we therefore have in common. For this reason we wish to implore together, constantly, the help of God and the assistance of the Holy Spirit in order to take further steps towards the longed-for unity and not to be satisfied with the results we have achieved so far. We are also encouraged on this journey by this year s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It recalls the Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles: And they devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers (Acts 2:42). The early Christians were constant in these four actions and in their behaviour so the community grew with Christ, and from it flowed this togetherness of men and women in Christ. This extraordinary and visible witness to the world of the unity of the early Church could also be an incentive and a norm for us on our common ecumenical journey in the future. In the hope that your visit will reinforce further the effective collaboration between Lutherans and Catholics in Germany, I implore for you all the grace of God and his abundant Blessings. ORE, 2 February 2011 THE ECUMENICAL MESSAGE OF THE TREE Meditation on Revelation 22:1-5 Here below is the text of Cardinal Koch s homily given during the prayer of blessing of an Olive tree at the Basilica of St-Paul-Outside-the-Walls. CARDINAL KURT KOCH President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity A tree is not simply a tree, it is more than a tree. It contains a message. When we plant a tree, we want 6

9 to give voice to this message and make it visible. It is above all a threefold message which the olive tree we are planting today conveys for our ecumenical relations. Firstly: What would a tree be without the roots which give it stability and nourish it at the same time? Without being firmly rooted in the earth it would be torn away by the wind and would perish. Just as the tree can only stand upright and not be snapped by the first storm if it has strong roots, the tree trunk of ecumenism also needs to be well rooted in the word of God, which is Jesus Christ himself in person. Above all, a tree needs water in order to flourish. In the vision of the early Christian seer John it is not by chance that it is a stream of living water which allows the trees to grow and flourish. In just the same way, ecumenism can only make progress if it constantly draws nourishment anew from the living water of baptism. Baptism is the gateway to ecumenism and ecumenism is constantly baptismal. In planting our tree we wish to give expression to our gratitude to God for calling us in baptism to be members of the body of Christ, and for calling us to visibly represent the one body of Christ. Secondly: What would a tree be without a strong trunk from which the branches emanate? If it is well rooted in the earth, it grows majestically into the heavens and invites the observer to gaze upwards. The trunk of the tree contains the beautiful promise that we are permitted to live beneath an open heaven, a heaven that has been opened for us by the life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. At the same time we have been sent to carry this promise to mankind, to live as a weight-bearing tree trunk, and to become a sign pointing mankind towards heaven. In the vision of John the Seer, the throne of God and the Lamb forms the centre of the envisaged city, giving expression to the goal of the church and ecumenism. The fulfilment will consist in eternal communion with God and the Lamb, when mankind will see God directly face to face. By planting our tree we give expression to our gratitude to God for giving us such a wonderful hope, and we renew our commitment to bear witness to this hope in ecumenical communion. Thirdly: What would a tree be without the crown formed by its branches? The crown is a sign of the rich diversity and the diverse ramification. The branches can be very different, but it is crucial that they know they stem from the same trunk and therefore mutually accept one another. For they receive their nourishment from the stem, just as conversely a stem without branches presents a miserable sight. Trunk and branches together are a visible sign that ecumenism can only flourish in enriching diversity and in liberating unity. Only then can the leaves of the tree serve, in the words of John the Seer, for the healing of the nations. By planting our tree we give expression to our gratitude to God for calling us as brothers and sisters to accept one another in mutual love and to understand and live ecumenism as the enriching exchange of our various gifts. That then is the message of the tree for ecumenism: It needs strong roots, and that means a deep faith. It needs a weight-bearing trunk, and that means a trustworthy hope which directs our gaze upwards. And it needs a crown, that is mutual love, which finds joy in one another. When we plant this tree in response to the tree planted in Luther s city of Wittenberg, we unite with it the prayer that we may be granted the unshakeable faith in ecumenism that Luther expressed when he responded to the question what he would do if he knew that tomorrow would be the last day: that he would plant an apple tree. Today we are not planting an apple tree but an olive tree which will give us that precious oil that has become a symbol of the heart of Christian faith in the Anointed One, in Christ. He must stand at the heart of all true ecumenism. Ecumenism can only grow in breadth to the extent that it becomes more deeply rooted in the mystery of Christ. We plant this olive tree with this confidence, and unite with it our gratitude for the communion which has grown until today between the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church. And we pray that God may today fulfil the promise expressed by John the Seer in the words: For the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. Commemorative Plate placed at the base of the tree, with the following text incised in Italian, German and English This olive tree was planted by Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, on 23 January 2011 during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The tree is a living monument linked to a tree planted in Lutherstadt Wittenberg (Germany) as a visible sign of the growth in ecumenical communion between the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church. 7

10 WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY Rome, January 2011 GENERAL AUDIENCE 19 January 2011 At the General Audience of 19 January, during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, January, the Holy Father focused on communion with God, expressed as brotherly communion, lived out in practice in social commitment, in Christian charity and in justice. The following is a translation of the Pope s catechesis which was given in Italian. Dear Brothers and Faithful, We are celebrating the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in which all believers in Christ are asked to unite in prayer in order to witness to the deep bond that exists between them and to invoke the gift of full communion. It is providential that in the process of building unity prayer is made central. This reminds us once again that unity cannot be a mere product of human endeavour; it is first and foremost a gift of God which entails growth in communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Second Vatican Council says: Such prayers in common are certainly a very effective means of petitioning for the grace of unity, and they are a genuine expression of the ties which still bond Catholics to their separated brethren. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them (Mt 18:20) (Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio, n. 8). The path that leads to the visible unity of all Christians lies in prayer, because, fundamentally, it is not we who build unity but God who builds it, it comes from him, from the Trinitarian Mystery, from the unity of the Father with the Son in the dialogue of love, which is the Holy Spirit; and our ecumenical commitment must be open to divine action, it must become a daily invocation for God s help. The Church is his and not ours. The theme chosen for this Year s Week of Prayer refers to the experience of the first Christian Community in Jerusalem, as it is described in the Acts of the Apostles; we have listened to the text: They devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers (Acts 2:42). We must consider that in the past, at the very moment of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended upon people of different languages and cultures. This means that from the very first the Church has embraced people from different backgrounds and yet, it is that the Spirit creates one body precisely from these differences. Pentecost, as the beginning of the Church, marks the expansion of God s Covenant to all creatures, all peoples and all epochs, so that the whole of creation may walk towards its true goal: to be a place of unity and love. In the passage cited from the Acts of the Apostles, four characteristics define the first Christian community of Jerusalem as a place of unity and love. St Luke, moreover, does not only want to describe something from the past. He presents this community to us as a model, as a norm for the Church today, since these four characteristics must always constitute the Church s life. The first characteristic is its unity, its devotion to listening to the Apostles teaching, then to fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers. As I have said, still today these four elements are the pillars that support the life of every Christian community and constitute the one solid foundation on which to progress in the search for the visible unity of the Church. We first have devotion to the teaching of the Apostles, that is, listening to their testimony to the mission, to the life, and to the death and Resurrection of the Lord. This is what Paul calls simply the Gospel. The first Christians received the Gospel from the lips of the Apostles, they were united by listening to it and by its proclamation because, as St Paul says, the Gospel is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith (Rom 1:16). Still today the community of believers recognizes the reference to the Apostles teaching as the norm of its own faith. Hence every effort to build unity among all Christians passes through the deepening of our faithfulness to the depositum fidei passed on to us by the Apostles. A steadfast faith is the foundation of our communion, it is the foundation of Christian unity. The second element is fraternal communion. At the time of the first Christian community, as it is in our day too, this is the most tangible expression especially for the external world, of unity among the Lord s disciples. We read in the Acts of the Apostles that the early Christians had all things in common and those with possessions and goods sold them to share the proceeds with the needy (cf. Acts 2:44-45). This sharing of goods has found ever new forms of expression in the history of the Church. Distinctive among these are the brotherly relations and friendships established between Christians of different denominations. 8

11 The history of the ecumenical movement is marked by difficulties and uncertainties but it is also a history of brotherhood, of cooperation and of human and spiritual sharing, which has significantly changed relations between believers in the Lord Jesus: we are all working hard to continue on this path. Thus the second element is communion. This is primarily communion with God through faith; but communion with God creates communion among ourselves and is necessarily expressed in that concrete communion of which the Acts of the Apostles speak, in other words sharing. No one in the Christian community must be hungry or poor: this is a fundamental obligation. Communion with God, expressed as brotherly communion, is lived out in practice in social commitment, in Christian charity and in justice. The third element: essential in the life of the first community of Jerusalem was the moment of the breaking of the bread in which the Lord makes himself present, with the unique sacrifice of the Cross, in his unreserved gift of self for the life of his friends: this is my body which will be given up for you this is the cup of my blood It will be shed for you. The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. This truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith, but recapitulates the heart of the mystery of the Church (John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, n. 1). Communion in Christ s sacrifice is the crowning point of our union with God and thus also represents the fullness of the unity of Christ s disciples, full communion. In this Week of Prayer for Unity our regret about the impossibility of sharing the same Eucharistic banquet a sign that we are still far from achieving that unity for which Christ prayed is particularly acute. This sorrowful experience, which also gives our prayers a penitential dimension, must become the reason for an even more generous dedication on the part of all so that, once the obstacles that stand in the way of full communion have been removed, the day will come when we can gather round the table of the Lord to break the Eucharistic bread together and to drink from the same cup. Lastly, prayer or as St Luke says prayers is the fourth characteristic of the early Church of Jerusalem described in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. Prayer has always been a constant attitude of the disciples of Christ, something that accompanies their daily life in obedience to God s will, as the Apostle Paul s words in his First Letter to the Thessalonians also attest: Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (1 Thes 5:16-18; cf. Eph 6:18). Christian prayer, participation in Jesus prayer, is a filial experience par excellence as the words of the Our Father testify the we of God s children, brothers and sisters a family prayer that addresses our common Father. Therefore, adopting an attitude of prayer also means opening ourselves to brotherhood. Only in the we can we say Our Father ; so let us open ourselves to brotherhood which comes from being children of the one heavenly Father and from being disposed to forgiveness and reconciliation. Dear brothers and sisters, as disciples of the Lord we have a common responsibility to the world. We must undertake a common service; like the first Christian community of Jerusalem, starting with what we already share, we must bear a powerful witness supported by reason and spiritually founded on the one God who revealed himself and speaks to us in Christ, in order to be heralds of a message that guides and illumines people today, who all too often lack clear and effective reference points. It is therefore important to increase day by day in reciprocal love, striving to surmount those barriers between Christians that still exist; to feel that real inner unity exists among all those who follow the Lord; to collaborate as closely as possible, working together on the issues that are still unresolved; and above all, to be aware that on this journey we need the Lord s assistance, he will have to give us even more help for, on our own, unless we abide in him, we can do nothing (cf. Jn 15:5). Dear friends, we are once again gathered in prayer particularly during this Week together with all those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, Son of God: let us persevere in prayer, let us be a people of prayer, entreating God to grant us the gift of unity so that his plan of salvation and reconciliation may be brought about for the whole world. Many thanks. TO SPECIAL GROUPS I now greet the young people, the sick and the newlyweds. Dear friends, I invite you to pray for Christian unity. May all of you who with youthful freshness, with anguished self-giving or with joyful spousal love seek to love the Lord in the daily fulfilment of your duty contribute to the edification of the Church and to her evangelizing activity. Pray, therefore, that all Christians may accept the Lord s call to the unity of faith in his one Church. I offer a warm welcome to the students and staff of the Bossey Graduate School of Ecumenical Studies. I thank the choir from Finland for their praise of God in song. To all the English-speaking pilgrims present at today s Audience, including those from Australia, Canada and the United States, I invoke an abundance of joy and peace in the Lord. ANGELUS 23 January 2011 ORE, 26 January 2011 On Sunday 23 January, the Holy Father introduced the recitation of the Angelus with the faithful in St Peter s Square with comments on the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and on the life of the first Christian community of Jerusalem as it is summed up in the Week s theme: One in the apostles teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer (Acts 2:42-47). 9

12 After the Marian prayer, the Pope announced that the week would close on Tuesday, 25 January, with the celebration of Vespers of the Memorial of the Conversion of St Paul. The following is a translation of the Pope s Reflection, which was given in Italian. Dear Brothers and Sisters, The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is being held in these days, from 18 to 25 January. This year its theme is a passage from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles that sums up in a few words the life of the first Christian community of Jerusalem: And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers (Acts 2:42). It is very significant that this theme was suggested by the Churches and Christian Communities of Jerusalem, reunited in an ecumenical spirit. We know how many trials our brothers and sisters of the Holy Land and of the Middle East must face. Their service is therefore all the more precious, strengthened by a witness which in some cases has even gone so far as the sacrifice of their life. Therefore, as we joyfully welcome the ideas offered for reflection by the Communities that live in Jerusalem, we gather round them and this becomes a further factor of communion for all. Today too, if we Christians are to be in the world a sign and instrument of close union with God and of unity among men we must found our life on these four hinges : a life founded on the faith of the Apostles passed on through the living Tradition of the Church, brotherly communion, the Eucharist and prayer. Only in this way, by remaining firmly united to Christ, can the Church carry out her mission effectively, despite the limitations and shortcomings of her members, despite the divisions which the Apostle Paul already had to face in the community of Corinth as the Second Reading from the Bible this Sunday recalls, where he says: I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment (1 Cor 1:10). In fact, the Apostle knew that in the Christian community of Corinth discord and divisions had developed; therefore, with great firmness he added: Is Christ divided? (1:13). By so saying he affirmed that every division in the Church is an offence to Christ; and, at the same time, that it is always in him the one Head and Lord that we can find ourselves once again united, through the inexhaustible power of his grace. Here then is the ever timely appeal of today s Gospel: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (Mt 4:17). The serious commitment of conversion to Christ is the way that leads the Church, in the time that God ordains, to full and visible unity. A number of ecumenical meetings in these days which are increasing everywhere in the world is a sign of this. As well as the presence of various ecumenical delegations here in Rome, a meeting session of the Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches of the East will begin tomorrow. And the day after tomorrow we shall conclude the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity with the solemn celebration of Vespers on the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul. May the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church always go with us on this journey. ORE, 26 January 2011 POPE S HOMILY AT THE END OF THE WEEK OF PRAYER 25 January 2011 On Tuesday evening, 25 January, at the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity the Holy Father celebrated Vespers at the Basilica of St Paul Outside-the-Walls. The following is a translation of the Pope s Homily, which was pronounced in Italian. Dear Brothers and Sisters, After the example of Jesus who on the eve of his Passion prayed the Father for his disciples that they may all be one (Jn 17:21), Christians continue ceaselessly to invoke the gift of unity from God. Their request becomes more intense during the Week of Prayer, which ends today, when the Churches and Ecclesial Communities meditate and pray together for the unity of all Christians. This year the theme offered for our meditation was suggested by the Christian Communities of Jerusalem, to which I would like to express my deep gratitude, together with the assurance of affection and prayers, on my part and on the part of the whole Church. The Christians of the Holy City are asking us to renew and strengthen our commitment to the reestablishment of full unity, by meditating on the model of life of Christ s first disciples, gathered in Jerusalem. They, we read in the Acts of the Apostles, devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching, and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers (Acts 2:42). This is the portrait of the first community which came into being in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost itself, inspired by the preaching that the Apostle Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, addressed to all who had come to the Holy City for the feast. It was not a community closed in on itself but rather, catholic and universal since its birth, able to embrace peoples of different languages and cultures as the Book of the Acts of the Apostles itself attests. It was not a community founded on an agreement between its members nor on merely sharing a project or an ideal but rather was founded on deep communion with God who revealed himself in his Son, in the encounter with Christ, dead and Risen. In the brief synthesis which concludes the chapter that began with the account of the Holy Spirit s descent on the Day of Pentecost, the Evangelist Luke sums up the life of this first community: when they had listened to the words preached by Peter and had been baptized, they listened to the word of 10

13 God passed on by the Apostles; they willingly stayed together, taking on the necessary services and freely and generously sharing their material possessions; they celebrated the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, the mystery of his death and Resurrection, in the Eucharist, repeating his gesture of the breaking of the bread; they praised the Lord and gave him thanks constantly, calling on him for help in difficulty. However, this description is not simply a memory of the past nor is it an example held up to imitate or an ideal objective to achieve. Rather, it is an affirmation of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church. It is an attestation, full of truth, that by uniting all things in Christ the Holy Spirit is the principle of unity of the Church and makes believers one. The Apostles teaching, brotherly communion, the breaking of the bread and prayers are the practical forms of the life of Jerusalem s first Christian community, gathered together by the action of the Holy Spirit, but at the same time constitute the essential features of all Christian communities, of every epoch and of every place. In other words we could say that they also represent the fundamental dimensions of unity of the visible Body of the Church. We must be grateful because in recent decades the ecumenical movement, fostered by the grace of the Holy Spirit (Unitatis Redintegratio, n. 1), has taken significant steps forward, which have made it possible to reach an encouraging convergence and consensus on various points, developing relations of esteem and reciprocal respect between the Churches and the ecclesial Communities, as well as practical collaboration in facing the challenges of the contemporary world. However we know well that we are still far from that unity for which Christ prayed and which we find reflected in that portrait of the first community of Jerusalem. The unity to which Christ, through his Spirit, calls the Church is not only brought about at the level of organizational structures but at a far deeper level, acquires the form of unity expressed in the confession of one faith, in the common celebration of divine worship, and in the fraternal harmony of the family of God (ibid., n. 2). The search for the re-establishment of unity among the divided Christians cannot therefore be reduced to recognition of the reciprocal differences and the achievement of a peaceful coexistence: what we yearn for is that unity for which Christ himself prayed and which, by its nature is expressed in the communion of faith, of the sacraments, of the ministry. The journey towards this unity must be perceived as a moral imperative, the answer to a precise call of the Lord. For this reason it is necessary not to give in to the temptation of resignation or pessimism, which is lack of trust in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is our duty to continue enthusiastically on our way towards this goal with a strict and serious dialogue in order to deepen the common theological, liturgical and spiritual patrimony; with reciprocal knowledge, with the ecumenical formation of the new generations and, especially, with conversion of heart and with prayer. Indeed, as the Second Vatican Council declared, this holy objective the reconciliation of all Christians in the unity of the one and only Church of Christ transcends human powers and gifts. It therefore places its hope entirely in the prayer of Christ for the Church, in the love of the Father for us, and in the power of the Holy Spirit (ibid., n. 24). The Apostle Paul goes with us and supports us on this journey in search of full and visible unity among all Christians. Today we are solemnly celebrating the Feast of his Conversion. Before the Risen One appeared to him on the road to Damascus saying to him: I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting! (Acts 9:5), Saul was one of relentless adversaries of the early Christian communities. The Evangelist Luke describes Saul as one of those who approved the killing of Stephen in the days when a violent persecution broke out against the Christians of Jerusalem (cf. Acts 8:1). Saul departed from the Holy City to spread the persecution of Christians as far as Syria, and, after his conversion returned there to be introduced to the Apostles by Barnabas, who made himself the guarantor of the authenticity of his encounter with the Lord. From that time Paul was not only admitted to the Church as a member, but also as a preacher of the Gospel together with the other Apostles since, like them, the Risen Lord had appeared to him and he had received the special call to be a chosen instrument in order to carry his Name to the peoples (cf. Acts 9:15). On his long missionary voyages, Paul, wandering as a pilgrim through different cities and regions, never forgot his bond of communion with the Church of Jerusalem. The collection for the Christians of that community who were very soon in need of help (cf. 1 Cor 16:1), occupied an important place in the concerns of Paul who considered it not only a work of charity but the sign and guarantee of unity and communion among the Churches he had founded and the primitive Community of the Holy City, a sign of the unity of the one Church of Christ. In this intensely prayerful atmosphere I would like to address my cordial welcome to everyone present: to Cardinal Francesco Monterisi, Archpriest of this Basilica, to Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and to the other Cardinals; to my Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood, to the Abbot and to the Benedictine monks of this ancient community, to the men and women religious and to the lay people who represent the entire diocesan community of Rome. I wish to greet the Brothers and Sisters of the other Churches and ecclesial Communities represented here this evening in a special way. Among them it gives me special pleasure to address my greeting to the members of the Joint International 11