Pope Leo prayed with the Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally during their historic first meeting in the Apostolic Palace yesterday. Source: The Tablet.
The archbishop visited the Vatican yesterday at the end of a three-day pilgrimage to Rome. After a private audience, she and the Pope each delivered an address and then said prayers together in the private Chapel of Urban VIII.
In his address, Pope Leo said all Christians are called “not only to accept the Lord’s gift of peace, but also to be messengers of his peace”, insisting that they “must bear prophetic and humble witness to this profound reality together”.
“While our suffering world greatly needs the peace of Christ, the divisions among Christians weakens our capacity to be effective bearers of that peace,” he said.
“If the world is to take our preaching to heart, we must, therefore, be constant in our prayers and efforts to remove any stumbling blocks that hinder the proclamation of the Gospel.”
He said an emphasis on “unity for the sake of a more fruitful evangelisation” was important to his own ministry, referring to his episcopal and papal motto In Illo uno unum – “In the One we are one” – from St Augustine of Hippo.
Both the Pope and the archbishop referred to the meeting between their predecessors Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey in 1966.
Archbishop Mullally said this “marked a profound turning point in relations between our Churches” and began a series of ecumenical initiatives, including the establishment of the Anglican Centre in Rome.
“Since then, Archbishops of Canterbury and Bishops of Rome have continued to meet to pray together, and I am glad that we are continuing this tradition today,” Pope Leo said.
Noting the ambition of the 1966 Common Declaration for the “restoration of complete communion in faith and sacramental life”, Leo acknowledged that “this ecumenical journey has been complex”.
“While much progress has been made on some historically divisive issues, new problems have arisen in recent decades, rendering the pathway to full communion more difficult to discern,” he said.
“Nevertheless, we must not allow these continuing challenges to prevent us from using every possible opportunity to proclaim Christ to the world together.”
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Churches must strive for unity, says Leo at first meeting with Mullally (By Patrick Hudson, The Tablet)
