Vatican ecumenist tells Germans to avoid 'scandal of division'

Published: 2004-06-21

ULM, Germany (CNS) -- The Vatican's top ecumenist told participants in a German Catholic Church assembly that Christians could not put up with what he called "the scandal of division." Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, spoke on "The Ecumenism of Life," one of the assembly's keynote addresses. Some 1,500 packed a hall -- more outside heard the talk over loudspeakers -- and applauded enthusiastically every time the cardinal criticized those who want to move more slowly toward Christian unity. Cardinal Kasper, a German, defended ecumenical initiatives against "those who attack from the extreme right. And they are increasing in number." He said that within the ecumenical movement much had happened over the past 20 years with statements and documents, but "more important is what has happened in real life." "Protestants and Catholics no longer see themselves as enemies and competitors. They see themselves as brothers and sisters," he said.

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