Pope Francis: Jesus Christ is the heart of ecumenism

This morning Pope Francis received a delegation from the Lutheran World Federation at the Vatican, to whom he assured that “Jesus Christ is the heart of ecumenism.”

In his speech given during the audience in the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican, the Holy Father defined this meeting as “an important gesture of ecumenical fraternity.”

Next, the Pontiff recalled the visit of this delegation to Rome three years ago, an occasion in which they reflected on the anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea as an ecumenical event.

In this context, he noted that it is “a beautiful sign of hope, which occupies a special place in the history of reconciliation between Catholics and Lutherans.”

“Jesus Christ is the heart of ecumenism,” Pope Francis highlighted, while stating that “He is divine mercy incarnate, and our ecumenical mission is to bear witness to this.”

Likewise, the Holy Father recalled the “Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification,” signed 25 years ago as “another sign of hope in our history of reconciliation.”

For this reason, he encouraged them to keep it “in our memory as something always alive” and to celebrate this anniversary “as a celebration of hope.”

“May the God of hope be with us and continue to accompany our dialogue of truth and charity with his blessing,” he commented.

Finally, he recalled a “beautiful phrase” from the Orthodox bishop Zizioulas, a pioneer of ecumenism, who “used to say that he knew the date of the union of Christians: the day of the Last Judgment!”

“But in the meantime, he said, we must walk together: walk together, pray together and do charity together, on our way towards that “hyperecumenical” day that will be the Final Judgment,” the Holy Father said finally.