World News
Prayers for unity show Christians' faith, says Vatican official
Published: January 17, 2008
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Prayers for Christian unity are a response to faith in Jesus and his teaching, a part of missionary activity and a demonstration of Christians' concern for the world, said Cardinal Walter Kasper. Writing in the Vatican newspaper about the Jan. 18-25 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity said ecumenism and mission go hand in hand. Praying for the unity of Jesus' disciples, the cardinal said, means praying "with Jesus and in Jesus," who prayed for the unity of his disciples at the Last Supper. "The origin and motor of ecumenism is meditation and contemplation," the cardinal said in an article in the Jan. 17 edition of L'Osservatore Romano. The goal of ecumenism is full communion in Christ, he said, "but communion is not simply the result of human efforts, a work or an institution we create alone."
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