Quest for Greater Fidelity to Christ Needed for Ecumenical Dialogue, Francis Says

Pope greets members of Orientale Lumen Foundation on ecumenical pilgrimage

Pope Francis said on Friday there is no authentic ecumenical dialogue without being ready “for an interior renewal” and the quest for a greater fidelity to Christ and his wishes.  

His remarks came in an address at the Vatican to delegates taking part in an ecumenical pilgrimage, promoted by the Orientale Lumen Foundation and led by Orthodox Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia (pictured).

The Pope said this journey towards an interior renewal is “absolutely essential” in order to make progress along the road leading to reconciliation and full communion between all believers in Christ. 

He expressed joy that the Foundation’s ecumenical pilgrimage had chosen to commemorate the figures of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II and said this underlines the two Popes’ great contribution towards developing closer relations between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches. “The example of these two saints,” he continued, “always bore witness to a strong passion for Christian unity.”

Referring to his upcoming meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, during his visit to Turkey at the end of November, Pope Francis described this meeting as “a sign of the profound ties uniting the Sees of Rome and Constantinople” and the desire “to overcome, through love and truth, the obstacles that still divide us.”