Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Warsaw (Agenzia Fides) - In the afternoon of Thursday 25 May Pope Benedict XVI met the President of Poland and then went to the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church for a Liturgy of the Word with representatives of the seven churches which make up the Polish Ecumenical Council and representatives of other confessions. In his address the Pope confirmed his commitment to: “consider restoration of full and visible unity among Christians a priority in my ministry”.
Pope Benedict XVI then recalled John Paul II’s ecumenical meeting in the same church in 1991 and his words on that occasion - "As hard as we may work for unity it is always a gift of the Holy Spirit” -underlining that the ecumenical aspirations of all must be permeated “by prayer and reciprocal forgiveness and holiness of life of each of us”. On the way towards the final encounter with Christ “with our life we announce his death, we proclaim his resurrection, awaiting his return. We feel the weight of this grave responsibility; Christ’s message in fact must reach every man and woman on the earth, through the efforts of those who believe in Him and are called to witness that He is truly sent by the Father. Therefore when announcing the Gospel we must be moved by the aspiration to build reciprocal relations of sincere charity so that in the light of these relations all may know that the Father has sent his Son and He loves the Church and each of us, as He loves the Son. It is the duty of the disciples of Christ, of each of us therefore, to work for that unity so as to become, as Christians, a visible sign of his message of salvation, addressed to every human person.”
In recent years steps have been made to promote reciprocal understanding and drawing close and the Pope mentioned at this point the main ecumenical events. However two questions are still open. “The first concerns the charity service of the Churches. Numerous brothers and sisters await from us the gift of love, trust, witness, and spiritual and concrete material assistance … the practice of fraternal caritas brings us ever closer and renders our witness to Christ before the world more credible”. The second question concerns marriage and family life. “Today… ever more frequently young people of different traditions, religions, different Christian confessions decide to form a family. Very often for the young couple and for their families the decision is difficult and involves many dangers with regard to perseverance in the faith and the future building of a family order, an atmosphere of unity in the family and suitable conditions for the spiritual growth of the children… This calls for mutual kindness, understanding and maturity in the faith on both sides and also from the communities from which the couple come”. The Pope ended his address calling those present to pray that the community of Christ’s disciples in earth “may be increasingly a community of love which reflects the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 26/5/2006 - righe 38, parole 552)
