THOUGHTS ON CHRISTIAN UNITY Recently, Pope Francis stressed that Chrisrian Unity is an essential requirement of our faith, a journey of personal and community conversion to the will of Christ. Unity, he insisted, is a gift from God and our task is to welcome that gift and make it visible to others.
Rather than just a goal to be achieved, he said we should see the search for unity as a journey that we undertake together, with patience, determination, effort and commitment, knowing that all of us are sinners for whom God has infinite mercy.
Pope Francis cautioned against the idea of unity as ‘going back in time’ to incorporate one church into another. No one should deny their own faith history, he said, and no one should tolerate the practice of proselytism, which he called ‘a poison for the ecumenical journey’
True ecumenism, the Pope concluded, is when we focus not on our own reasons and ergulations, but rather on the Word of God which requires us to listen, to receive and to witness to the world.
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