GREETINGS TO AN ECUMENICAL DELEGATION FROM FINLAND

VATICAN CITY, JAN 17, 2000 (VIS) - John Paul II today received an ecumenical delegation from the Churches of Finland. He told them that their visit "builds upon the promising initiatives that have brought Orthodox, Lutheran and Catholic Christians closer together in recent times. It encourages me to pursue the path towards unity which the Successor of the Apostle Peter must be the first to take."

The Pope requested that tomorrow, upon passing through the Holy Door of St. Paul's Outside the Walls, "may we take another step closer to the unity in Christ which Peter and Paul proclaimed, and which the Lord Himself so clearly wills. I am deeply grateful to you for the commitment of mind and will with which you pursue the ecumenical task."

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