Pope Urges Ukrainian Bishops to Show Communion
VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 28, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The unity of the Catholic Church is decisive for the promotion of unity among Christians of various confessions, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope said this Thursday when he received in audience the Latin-rite bishops of Ukraine, at Castel Gandolfo for the end of their five-yearly visit.
The bishops had an earlier meeting with the Holy Father on Monday, accompanied by the Catholic bishops of the Greek-Catholic rite.
The Pontiff told them Thursday, "Your pastoral work, venerated brothers, is carried out in a place where Catholics of the Latin and Greek rites live together with other believers who find the reason for their lives in the one and only Lord Jesus Christ."
Ukraine has more than 46 million citizens, mostly Orthodox. There is a strong Eastern-rite Catholic community, which endured severe persecution under communist rule. There are also Latin-rite Catholic communities.
The Holy Father acknowledged: "Even collaboration between Catholics is not always easy; it is normal for different sensitivities to emerge, given the diversity of the respective traditions.
"But how can we not consider it a providential opportunity the fact that two communities with distinct traditions yet fully Catholic coexist together, both serving the only 'Kyrios' and proclaiming the Gospel?
"The unity of Catholics, in the diversity of rites, and the effort to show it in every area, shows the true face of the Catholic Church and constitutes an eloquent sign for other Christians and for all of society."
Synergy
Benedict XVI mentioned the analysis presented by the prelates, showing "a series of problems, the solutions to which require an indispensable synergy of forces, for a renewed proclamation of the Gospel."
He noted that the "long years of atheistic and communist domination" left "visible traces in today’s generations. They are just as much a challenge for you today, dear brothers, and are rightly at the center of your pastoral concerns and plans."
But, the Pope encouraged unity despite difficulties: "'Ut unum sint!' Christ’s prayer in the Upper Room constantly resounds in the Church as an invitation to the untiring search for unity.
"If communion within the Catholic communities is strengthened it will be easier to carry out a profitable dialogue between the Catholic Church and the other Churches and ecclesiastical communities.
"May the difficulties, the obstacles and even failures not dampen your enthusiasm in going in this direction."
"With patience and humility, with charity, truth and openness, the journey you must take becomes less arduous," the Holy Father concluded, "above all if the fundamental perspective is not lost: the conviction that all Christ’s disciples are called to follow in his footsteps, letting themselves be humbly guided by his Spirit, who is always at work in the Church."
ZE07092809 - 2007-09-28