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The letter was delivered by Cardinal Kurt Koch during his visit to Istanbul for the patronal feast of the Orthodox Church.
The ecumenical prayer vigil Oct. 11 was held in Roman Protomartyrs Square inside Vatican City.
According to Cardinal Kurt Koch, the imperative for all Christian churches to journey, pray, and cooperate is Jesus’ own priestly prayer recorded in John 17.
On Sept. 14 in Jerusalem, a new pilgrimage called “Pilgrims of Hope Way” was inaugurated at the 60th anniversary celebration of Abraham House.
In his talk given during the audience in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican, the Holy Father called this encounter “an important gesture of ecumenical fraternity.”
Marking the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Pope Francis hosted an ecumenical vespers at Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.
Pope Francis told those gathered at an ecumenical prayer vigil days before the opening of the Synod on Synodality that silence is essential for Christians.
The prayer service will take place just days before the launch of the 16th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Rome over the course of October.
Catholic-Orthodox relations took a step forward this month with the publication of the first joint statement in seven years.
About 50,000 people attended the ecumenical prayer service.
In his Angelus address on Sunday, Pope Francis encouraged Christians to cultivate the virtue of knowing “how to step aside” in order to bear witness to Jesus, as St. John the Baptist did.
Pope Francis said Wednesday that the full restoration of communion among all Christians is “an urgent priority in today’s world.”
In ecumenical discussions at the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, England, Justin Welby, archbishop of Canterbury, has said that most Anglicans recognize the pope as “the father of the Church in the West.”
Pope Francis called Wednesday for Catholics not to retreat into their own groups, but to open the church doors and work together to care for the vulnerable in the world.
The pope was preaching at the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
A Catholic Archbishop in Togo has called on followers of Christ to use the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity not only to pray for unity but also to accompany the initiative with concrete gestures of love for one another.
The letter was sent by Cardinal Kurt Koch and Cardinal Mario Grech.
Pope Francis highlighted the upcoming anniversaries of two major events in Church history as moments that can help Christians seek unity.
Pope Francis told a delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople that the witness of growing communion between Christians would be “a sign of hope for many.”
Pope Francis told a group of Lutheran leaders on Friday that the desire for unity grows the more Christians understand how much Christ suffers over our divisions.