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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, our common Lord!
It is a pleasure for me to meet you, the representatives of other
Churches and ecclesial Communities, during my visit to Germany. I greet
you all most cordially! As a native of this country, I am quite aware of
the painful situation which the rupture of unity in the profession of
the faith has entailed for so many individuals and families. This was
one of the reasons why, immediately following my election as Bishop of
Rome, I declared, as the Successor of the Apostle Peter, my firm
commitment to making the recovery of full and visible Christian unity a
priority of my Pontificate. In doing so, I wished consciously to follow
in the footsteps of two of my great Predecessors: Pope Paul VI, who
forty years ago signed the conciliar Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis
Redintegratio, and Pope John Paul II, who made that document the
inspiration for his activity. In ecumenical dialogue Germany has a place
of particular importance. Not only is it the place where the Reformation
began; it is also one of those countries where the ecumenical movement
of the twentieth century originated. With the successive waves of
immigration in the last century, Christians from the Orthodox Churches
and the ancient Churches of the East also found a new homeland in this
country. This certainly favoured greater contact and exchanges. Together
we can rejoice in the fact that ecumenical dialogue, with the passage of
time, has brought about a renewed sense of fraternity and has created a
more open and trusting climate between Christians belonging to the
various Churches and ecclesial Communities. My venerable Predecessor, in
his Encyclical Ut Unum Sint (1995) saw this as an especially
significant fruit of dialogue (cf. Nos. 41ff; 64).
Among Christians, fraternity is not just a vague sentiment, nor is it
a sign of indifference to truth. It is grounded in the supernatural
reality of the one Baptism which makes us members of the one Body of
Christ (cf. 1 Cor 12:13; Gal 3:28; Col 2:12). Together we confess that
Jesus Christ is God and Lord; together we acknowledge him as the one
mediator between God and man (cf. 1 Tim 2:5) and we emphasize that
together we are members of his Body (cf. Unitatis Redintegratio,
22; Ut Unum Sint, 42). On this shared foundation dialogue has
borne its fruits. I would like to mention the re-examination of the
mutual condemnations, called for by John Paul II during his first visit
to Germany in 1980, and above all the "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine
of Justification" (1999), which grew out of that re-examination and led
to an agreement on basic issues that had been a subject of controversy
since the sixteenth century. We should also acknowledge with gratitude
the results of our common stand on important matters such as the
fundamental questions involving the defence of life and the promotion of
justice and peace. I am well aware that many Christians in this country,
and not only in this country, expect further concrete steps to bring us
closer together. I myself have the same expectation. It is the Lord’s
command, but also the imperative of the present hour, to carry on
dialogue, with conviction, at all levels of the Church’s life. This must
obviously take place with sincerity and realism, with patience and
perseverance, in complete fidelity to the dictates of one’s conscience.
There can be no dialogue at the expense of truth; the dialogue must
advance in charity and in truth.
I do not intend here to outline a programme for the immediate themes
of dialogue - this task belongs to theologians working alongside the
Bishops. I simply wish to make an observation: ecclesiological issues,
and especially the question of the sacred ministry or priesthood, are
inseparably linked with that of the relationship between Scripture and
Church, that is to say the correct interpretation of the Word of God and
its development within the life of the Church.
Another urgent priority in ecumenical dialogue arises from the great
ethical questions of our time; in this area, modern research rightly
expects a common response on the part of Christians, which, thanks be to
God, has often been forthcoming. But not always, alas. Because of
contradictory positions in these areas, our witness to the Gospel and
the ethical guidance which we owe to the faithful and to society lose
their impact and often appear too vague, with the result that we fail in
our duty to provide the witness that is needed in our time. Our
divisions are contrary to the will of Jesus and they disappoint the
expectations of our contemporaries.
What does it mean to restore the unity of all Christians? The
Catholic Church has as her goal the full visible unity of the disciples
of Christ, as defined by the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council in its
various documents (cf. Lumen Gentium, 8, 13; Unitatis
Redintegratio, 2, 4, etc.). This unity subsists, we are convinced,
in the Catholic Church, without the possibility of ever being lost (cf.
Unitatis Redintegratio, 4). This does not, however, mean
uniformity in all expressions of theology and spirituality, in
liturgical forms and in discipline. Unity in multiplicity, and
multiplicity in unity: in my Homily for the Solemnity of Saints Peter
and Paul on 29 June last, I insisted that full unity and full
catholicity go together. As a necessary condition for the achievement of
this coexistence, the commitment to unity must be constantly purified
and renewed; it must constantly grow and mature. To this end, dialogue
has its own contribution to make. More than an exchange of thoughts, it
is an exchange of gifts (cf. Ut Unum Sint, 28), in which the
Churches and the ecclesial Communities can make available their own
riches (cf. Lumen Gentium, 8, 15; Unitatis Redintegratio,
3, 14ff; Ut Unum Sint, 10-14). As a result of this commitment,
the journey can move forward step by step along the path to full unity,
when at last we will all "attain to the unity of faith and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph 4:13). It is obvious that, in
the end, this dialogue can develop only in a context of sincere and
committed spirituality. We cannot "bring about" unity by our powers
alone. We can only obtain unity as a gift of the Holy Spirit.
Consequently, spiritual ecumenism – prayer, conversion and the
sanctification of life – constitute the heart of the ecumenical movement
(cf. Unitatis Redintegratio, 8; Ut Unum Sint, 15ff., 21,
etc.). It could be said that the best form of ecumenism consists in
living in accordance with the Gospel.
I see good reason for optimism in the fact that today a kind of
"network" of spiritual links is developing between Catholics and
Christians from the different Churches and ecclesial Communities: each
individual commits himself to prayer, to the examination of his own
life, to the purification of memory, to the openness of charity. The
father of spiritual ecumenism, Paul Couturier, spoke in this regard of
an "invisible cloister" which unites within its walls those souls
inflamed with love for Christ and his Church. I am convinced that if
more and more people unite themselves to the Lord’s prayer "that all may
be one" (Jn 17:21), then this prayer, made in the name of Jesus, will
not go unheard (cf. Jn 14:13; 15:7, 16, etc.). With the help that comes
from on high, we will also find practical solutions to the different
questions which remain open, and in the end our desire for unity will
come to fulfilment, whenever and however the Lord wills. I invite all of
you to join me in following this path.
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