Greeting of cardinal koch to bishop raimo ramón goyarolla belda, bishop of Helnski

25 November 2023

Most Reverend Bishop, dear Brother Raimo,

On the occasion of your episcopal ordination, I send you my warmest best wishes from the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity. 

Today is a long-awaited day of joy for the Catholic Church in Finland. I share in the joy of the Catholic faithful, who now once again have a spiritual shepherd who will exercise the ministry of unity both in his diocese and between the local Church and the universal Church. 

At the same time, today is a day of celebration for the entire Finnish ecumenism. The announcement of your appointment as bishop has already had a wide ecumenical welcome. The fact that your ordination can take place in St John's Evangelical Lutheran Church is also a beautiful sign of ecumenical hospitality.

It is my special prayer that your episcopal office as a service to unity will be a blessing for many. For, as the Ecumenical Vademecum, published by our dicastery, very aptly expresses it: "In the service of unity, the bishop’s pastoral ministry extends not just to the unity of his own church, but to the unity of all baptised into Christ" (Preface).

The fact that your truly Catholic heart beats for ecumenism was recently confirmed to me during our personal meeting in Rome. Your collaboration on the path-breaking document of Catholic-Lutheran dialogue in Finland, Communion in Growth, bears eloquent witness to this. As a bishop, you are now committed in a new way to the mandatum unitatis of our Lord. For, to quote the Ecumenical Vademecum once again, "the bishop’s ecumenical engagement is not an optional dimension of his ministry but a duty and obligation" (Preface).

In your episcopal ministry you are not alone; along with you are your priestly brothers, the religious, all the Catholic faithful, and indeed all the baptised, travelling together to serve, strengthen and encourage one another with their own gifts.

"Camminare insieme" - this synodal realisation of faith, so important to our Pope Francis, has taken on an impressive form in Finnish ecumenism: For more than thirty years now, an ecumenical delegation from Finland has made its way to Rome every January to celebrate the feast of St Henrik together. I am delighted that this coming January you, dear Bishop Raimo, will be taking part in this pilgrimage for the first time as the Catholic Bishop of Helsinki. 

It is of inestimable importance that Christians raise their voices together wherever possible. In our time "God" must not become an "Unknown" and His mercy must not become a "Fremdwort". Our Lord prays for the unity of all who belong to Him, so that the world may come to faith (cf. Jn 17).

May we all discover more and more in the fellowship of the baptised what common gifts we have already been given. At the same time, let us always ask anew for the spirit of discernment in which alone the dialogue of love, truth and life can succeed.

In heartfelt fraternal communion, 

Yours

Kurt Cardinal Koch

Prefect