Christians have obligation to pray for unity, pope says at audience

Published: 2005-01-19

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Prayer, dialogue and cooperation to restore Christian unity are obligations for all Christians, Pope John Paul II said. Marking the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity at his Jan. 19 general audience, the pope put on a red stole and led an estimated 7,000 people in praying for Christian unity. Before embracing the cross and going to his death, Christ prayed that all his disciples would be one, Pope John Paul said, introducing the prayers for the churches of the East and West, for all those baptized in Christ and for all those who give witness to the Gospel in the world. In his audience talk, the pope said the Jan. 18-25 week of prayer is an important occasion "for reminding Christians that the re-establishment of full unity among them, according to the will of Jesus, involves every baptized person, pastors and faithful alike." The Catholic Church, he said, has just celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council's Decree on Ecumenism, "a key text which placed the Catholic Church firmly and irrevocably in the heart of the ecumenical movement."

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