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Benedict XVI Calls Ecumenism a Priority

Addresses Members of Council for Christian Unity

Benedict XVI confirmed that the ecumenical movement toward full Christian unity is a priority of his ministry as Pope.

"The Second Vatican Council considered as one of its main objectives the re-establishment of full Christian unity," the Holy Father said today. "This is also my objective."

His words were heard by participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, headed by Cardinal Walter Kasper.

Benedict XVI mentioned the first message he wrote as Pope, dated April 20, 2005, in which he assumed "as a primary commitment, to work without sparing energies for the reconstitution of the full and visible unity of all the followers of Christ."

The Pope added on that occasion that he "lets himself be challenged in the first person by this request and is prepared to do all that is in his power to promote the fundamental cause of ecumenism."

In his address today, Benedict XVI acknowledged that important steps have been taken since Vatican II, "where the observer delegates of the other Churches and ecclesial communities were attentive, but in silence."

Silence transformed

"This image has made room in subsequent decades to the reality of a Church in dialogue with all Churches and ecclesial communities of East and West," the Holy Father continued.

"The silence has been transformed into a word of communion," he said. "Enormous work has been done at the universal and local level. Fraternity has been rediscovered among all Christians and has been established as the condition of dialogue, cooperation and common prayer of solidarity."

The Pope was moved in particular by "the experience of communion lived with representatives of the other Churches and ecclesial communities who came from all the continents to participate in the funeral of the unforgettable John Paul II and also in the inauguration of my pontificate. To share sorrow and joy is a visible sign of the new situation that has been created among Christians."