Vespers at St. Paul Outside the Walls at the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

26 Jan 2023

On Wednesday 25 January, Pope Francis presided at Vespers at the basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls to conclude the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

The theme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2023 was chosen by Christians from Minnesota in the United States of America. Minnesota’s history has been marred by many examples of ethnic discrimination and strife and this painful history has created longstanding inequities and mistrust between communities. In the face of these and many other types of injustice, they chose as the theme of the Week of Prayer, “learn to do good; seek justice” (Is 1:17).

Reflecting in the homily on the prophet’s call to conversion, Pope Francis said, “It is not enough to denounce, we need also to renounce evil, to pass from evil to good. In other words, admonishment is meant to change us”. This call to conversion, the Holy Father said, is not only personal, but ecclesial and communitarian. “We also believe that our ecumenical conversion grows to the extent that we recognize our need for God’s grace, our need for his mercy. In acknowledging that we are dependent on God for everything, we will truly, with his aid, feel and ‘be one’ (Jn 17:21).”

Pope Francis made specific mention of the role of ecumenical partners in the Catholic Church’s synodal process. “I am grateful that so many Christians, of various communities and traditions, are accompanying with participation and interest the synodal journey of the Catholic Church, which I trust will become increasingly ecumenical. Let us not forget that journeying together and acknowledging that we are ‘in communion with one another in the Holy Spirit’ (Lumen Gentium, 13) entails a change, the growth that can only take place, as Benedict XVI wrote, ‘on the basis of an intimate encounter with God, an encounter which has become a communion of will, even affecting my feelings. Then I learn to look on this other person not simply with my eyes and my feelings, but from the perspective of Jesus Christ. His friend is my friend’ (Deus Caritas Est, 18).”

Before the final blessing, the Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch, offered a brief greeting and word of thanks to Pope Francis. Echoing the Holy Father’s emphasis on conversion, he recalled the words of the Decree on Ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council. “There can be no ecumenism worthy of the name without a change of heart. For it is from renewal of the inner life of our minds, from self-denial and an unstinted love that desires of unity take their rise and develop in a mature way (Unitatis redintegratio, 7).”

The Pope was joined by His Eminence Metropolitan Polykarpos, the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, His Grace Archbishop Ian Ernest, the personal representative in Rome of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and many other ecumenical representatives and pastors resident in Rome, including H.E. Atanasie of Bodania, Vicar of the Diocese of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Italy, His Eminence Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, representative of the Armenian Apostolic Church to the Holy See, Rev. Matthew Laferty, Director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office in Rome, Father Alexey Maksimov, St. Catherine's Russian Orthodox Church in Rome, Archpriest Roman Fischer, Serbian Orthodox Church, Rev. Michael Jonas, Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Community of Rome, Father Ivan Ivanov, parish Priest of the Bulgarian Community of Rome, Rev. Austin Keith Rios, Rector of St. Paul's Within the Walls Episcopal Church, and Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Morgan, Salvation Army, Italy and Greece. Also present, seated close to the Pope, was a delegation from the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, as was Brother Alois, Prior of the Taizé Community.

Metropolitan Polykarpos and Archbishop Ernest joined the Holy Father in giving the final blessing.