Pope says faith that God is love should help Christian unity work

Published: 2006-01-25

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Faith that God is love and knowledge that love unites should console Christians as they continue to work and pray for Christian unity, Pope Benedict XVI said. The pope led an ecumenical evening prayer service closing the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Jan. 25, the same day his encyclical, "Deus Caritas Est" ("God Is Love"), was released. The prayer service at Rome's Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls brought together hundreds of bishops, ministers and the faithful from Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant churches. "God is love. On this solid rock the entire faith of the church is based," the pope said in his homily. "The patient search for full communion among all the disciples of Christ" also is based on the fact that God is love, he said. "Keeping our gaze on this truth, which is the culmination of divine revelation, divisions -- while maintaining their painful seriousness -- appear possible to overcome and do not discourage us," the pope said.

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