Vatican City, 24 May 2015 (VIS) – The
diocese of Phoenix, U.S.A., has organised a day of dialogue and
prayer, on the eve of Pentecost, with a group of evangelical pastors
of Pentecostal orientation, including the Italian Giovanni Traettino,
whom Pope Francis visited during his trip to Caserta. The Holy Father
participated with a video message, screened yesterday afternoon at
the opening of the meeting (during the night in Europe), ample
extracts of which are given below:
“'Father, may we be one so that the
world may believe you sent me'. This is the slogan, the theme of the
meeting: Christ’s prayer to the Father for the grace of unity.
Today, Saturday … I will be with you spiritually and with all my
heart. We will search together, we will pray together, for the grace
of unity. The unity that is budding among us is that unity which
begins under the seal of the one Baptism we have all received. It is
the unity we are seeking along a common path. It is the spiritual
unity of prayer for one another. It is the unity of our common labour
on behalf of our brothers and sisters, and all those who believe in
the sovereignty of Christ. Dear brothers and sisters, division is a
wound in the body of the Church of Christ. And we do not want this
wound to remain open. Division is the work of the father of Lies, the
father of Discord, who does everything possible to keep us divided.
“Together today, I here in Rome and
you over there, we will ask our Father to send the Spirit of Jesus,
the Holy Spirit, and to give us the grace to be one, 'so that the
world may believe'. I wish to say something that may sound
controversial, or even heretical, perhaps. But there is someone who
'knows' that, despite our differences, we are one. It is he who is
persecuting us. It is he who is persecuting Christians today, he who
is anointing us with (the blood of) martyrdom. He knows that
Christians are disciples of Christ: that they are one, that they are
brothers! He doesn’t care if they are Evangelicals, or Orthodox,
Lutherans, Catholics or Apostolic … he doesn’t care! They are
Christians. And that blood (of martyrdom) unites. Today, dear
brothers and sisters, we are living an 'ecumenism of blood'. This
must encourage us to do what we are doing today: to pray, to dialogue
together, to shorten the distance between us, to strengthen our bonds
of brotherhood.
“I am convinced it will not be
theologians who bring about unity among us. Theologians help us, the
science of the theologians will assist us, but if we hope that
theologians will agree with one another, we will reach unity the day
after Judgement Day. The Holy Spirit brings about unity. Theologians
are helpful, but most helpful is the goodwill of us all who are on
this journey with our hearts open to the Holy Spirit! In all
humility, I join you as just another participant on this day of
prayer, friendship, closeness and reflection. In the certainty that
we have one Lord: Jesus is the Lord. In the certainty that this Lord
is alive: Jesus is alive, the Lord lives in each one of us. In the
certainty that He has sent the Spirit He promised us so that this
'harmony' among all His disciples might be realised”.
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