A new appeal for the unity of the Christians: the Pope is talking about the urgency of the ecumenical commitment again this morning, at the Vatican, by meeting the believers of the Greek-Melkite Catholic Church, accompanied by His Blessedness Gregory III Laham and coming from different countries in the Middle East and from the Melkite diaspora in the world. During his welcome greeting, the Pope recalled the ecumenical activity which the Greek-Melkite Church is carrying on, above all, with “Orthodox brothers”: “actually – said the Pope – the commitment for the search of unity of all disciples of Christ is an urgent obligation”. “Therefore, we must do everything possible to demolish the walls of division and mistrust, preventing us from fulfilling that obligation. However, we cannot forget that the search for unity is a task concerning not simply a particular Church, but the whole Church, in respect of its very nature. Furthermore, as pointed out in the “Ut Unum Sint” encyclical, unity is not the outcome of human activity, but first of all, it is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, let’s pray the Spirit whose descent among the Apostles we are going to celebrate in a few days, for the Spirit to help us working together in the search for unity”.
The Pope appreciated the relations of the Melkite Catholic Church with the Muslims, which are meant, he said, “to look for mutual understanding, and to promote and defend together, for the benefit of all, social justice, moral values, peace and freedom”. In his speech, he also mentioned the “dramatic” social and political situation of the Middle East, and prayed “for the path of peace, which may finally be open to the peoples living in this much beloved area”.
News by SIR