"From conflict to communion": Pope Francis' ecumenical visionOne of the dreams of the Holy Father is to celebrate the anniversary of the Council together with brothers and sisters of other Christian confessions, and in particular to celebrate Easter on the same date, which in 2025 will coincide in both Churches.
This is a desire expressed during his trip to the Congo last February, when he met with the Jesuit community present in the country. The Ecumenical Prayer Vigil that the Pontiff himself has called for September 30 in St. Peter's Square, to which he will entrust in a special way the first session of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, is also framed in this line. The initiative is entitled Together and will bring together in the center of Catholicism representatives of different Churches accompanied by young people from all over Europe and from all ecclesial realities.
Returning to the anniversary of the conclusion of the Council of Nicaea, Pope Francis has spoken about it.
recently on at least three occasions.
On June 25, 2021, addressing the representatives of the Lutheran World Federation, the Pontiff had recalled the anniversary as an occasion to give "new impetus to the ecumenical journey which is a gift of God and for us an irreversible path." Moreover, the occasion of the visit of the Lutherans to Rome was given by the commemoration of the Confessio Augustana - whose 500th anniversary is in 2030 - which recognizes the common faith between the two religious confessions: one God, one baptism, one body.
"It will be important to look with spiritual and theological humility at the circumstances that led to the divisions, in the confidence that, while it is impossible to undo the sad events of the past, it is possible to reread them within a reconciled history," Pope Francis added.
On a later occasion, on January 17, 2022, the Pope addressed the Ecumenical Delegation of Finland, reiterating how "the Trinitarian and Christological confession of this Council, which recognizes Jesus as 'true God of true God,' 'consubstantial with the Father,' unites us all the baptized." May the 1700th anniversary be, therefore, a reminder to dispose ourselves "with renewed enthusiasm to walk together on the way of Christ, on the way that is Christ" to reach full unity, the Pope said.
Finally, on May 6, 2022, the Holy Father received in audience the participants in the Plenary Session of the then Pontifical Council, now Dicastery, for Promoting Christian Unity. Here the Pope said: "Despite the turbulent events of its preparation and especially the subsequent long period of reception, the first Ecumenical Council was an event of reconciliation for the Church, which in a synodal way reaffirmed its unity around the profession of its faith".
And it is precisely the style and the decisions of that Council which should inspire the steps that still need to be taken today "towards the goal of the full restoration of Christian unity". Successively, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, together with the General Secretariat of the Synod, has addressed to the Episcopal Conferences an invitation to listen to the voices of the brothers and sisters of the other Confessions on the questions concerning faith and diakonia in today's world in the framework of the synodal process that has been held: "If we truly want to listen to the voice of the Spirit, we cannot fail to hear what He has said and says to all who have been born again 'of water and of the Spirit'" (Jn 3:5).
