Resurrection of the Lord Catholic Church

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Even as Christians continue the dialogue aimed at restoring their unity, they are called to work together to bring peace and reconciliation to a deeply divided world, Pope Leo XIV said.

"We believe that the unity Christ wills for his Church must be visible, and that such unity grows through theological dialogue, common worship where possible and shared witness in the face of humanity's suffering," the pope wrote in a message to church leaders meeting in Stockholm.

Archbishop Flavio Pace, secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, read the pope's message Aug. 22 during the weeklong celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Universal Christian Conference on Life and Work, when leaders of Protestant and Orthodox churches met in Stockholm to find ways to work together for peace.

"While the Catholic Church was not represented at that first gathering, I can affirm, with humility and joy, that we stand with you today as fellow disciples of Christ, recognizing that what unites us is far greater than what divides us," Pope Leo told the leaders. 

"Time for God's peace," the theme chosen for the anniversary celebration, "could not be more timely," the pope said, because "our world bears the deep scars of conflict, inequality, environmental degradation and a growing sense of spiritual disconnection."

However, Christians know that "peace is not merely a human achievement, but a sign of the Lord's presence with us," he wrote. "This is both a promise and a task, for the followers of Christ are summoned to become artisans of reconciliation: to confront division with courage, indifference with compassion and to bring healing where there has been hurt." 

The Catholic Church did not fully commit to the ecumenical movement until the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, the pope noted. But since then, it has "wholeheartedly embraced the ecumenical path."

"Indeed, 'Unitatis Redintegratio,' the Council’s decree on ecumenism, called us to dialogue in humble and loving fraternity, grounded in our common baptism and our shared mission in the world," he said.

Pope Leo also drew a parallel between the 100th anniversary of the Life and Work conference and the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which met in what is now Turkey and gave global Christianity its first common Creed.

"In the year 325, bishops from across the known world gathered in Nicaea," the pope wrote. "In affirming the divinity of Jesus Christ, they formulated our creedal statements that he is 'true God from true God' and 'consubstantial -- homoousios -- with the Father.' Thus, they articulated the faith that continues to bind Christians together."

The Council of Nicaea, he said, "stood as a courageous sign of unity amidst difference -- an early witness to the conviction that our shared confession can overcome division and foster communion."
 

In a post on his @Pontifex account, Pope Leo XIV reiterated the call for today’s day of prayer and fasting for peace: “May the overall vision inspired by the common good prevail.” Episcopates and ecclesial communities have broadly joined the papal appeal. In addition to the well-known wars in the Middle East and Europe, there are over 56 more or less “forgotten” conflicts that generate grief and suffering among peoples.

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In his message to participants in the 2025 Ecumenical Week in Stockholm, Pope Leo XIV reaffirms that "in our world bearing deep scars of conflict, inequality, environmental degradation, and a growing sense of spiritual disconnection," it is crucial for Christians to continue working and praying together.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- At a time when many governments seem unable promote peace, justice and development for all, Christians must be prophetic, reaching out to others and daring to try something new, Pope Leo XIV said.

"Without the victims of history, without those who hunger and thirst for justice, without migrants and refugees, without the cry of all creation, we will not have new stones" necessary to build the kingdom of God, said the pope's message to the Meeting at Rimini. 

Tens of thousands of young adults from around the world gather each August in the Italian seaside city of Rimini for the meeting organized by the Communion and Liberation Movement.

The 2025 Meeting, scheduled for Aug. 22-27, drew its theme from "The Rock" by T.S. Eliot: "In the vacant places we will build with new bricks." Organizers said the theme is meant "to express the hope of a novelty within the drama of history, the desire to build together places in which to share the search and experience of what is true, good and just."

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, wrote to Meeting participants on behalf of Pope Leo. The Vatican released the text of the message Aug. 21.

One of the featured exhibits at the Meeting will focus on the martyrs of Algeria: Bishop Pierre Claverie of Oran and 18 others, including the seven Trappist monks of Tibhirine, who were killed between 1993 and 1996 while Algeria was locked in a 10-year-long armed conflict between government forces and extremist Islamic rebel groups. 

Cardinal Parolin said the pope was pleased with the choice because they are an example of "the church's vocation to dwell in the desert in deep communion with all humanity, overcoming the walls of indifference that set religions and cultures against one another, in full imitation of the movement of the incarnation and giving of the Son of God."

The martyrs' "way of presence and simplicity, of knowledge and of 'dialogue of life' is the true path of mission," the message said. "Not self-exhibition, in the contraposition of identities, but self-giving to the point of martyrdom of those who, day and night, in joy and amid tribulations, worship Jesus alone as Lord."

"Where those responsible for state and international institutions seem unable to enforce the rule of law, mediation and dialogue," the message said, "religious communities and civil society must dare to be prophetic. This means allowing ourselves to be driven into the desert and seeing now what can be born from the rubble and from so much, too much, innocent suffering."

The Meeting's focus on dialogue -- among Catholics of differing opinions, with other Christians and with members of other religions -- is the only way to "prepare the 'new stones' with which to build the future that God already has in store for everyone, but which only unfolds when we welcome one another," the message said.

"Unarmed and disarming, the presence of Christians in contemporary societies must translate, with skill and imagination, the Gospel of the Kingdom into forms of development that provide alternatives to paths of growth without equity and sustainability," it said.

"In order to serve the living God, we must abandon the idolatry of profit, which has severely compromised justice, freedom of encounter and exchange, the participation of all in the common good and ultimately peace," it said. "A faith that is estranged from the desertification of the world or that indirectly contributes to tolerating it would no longer be following Jesus Christ."