Vatican cardinal: acknowledging weaknesses can contribute to Christian unity

June 18, 2014

In a letter published in the latest English edition of L’Osservatore Romano, the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity said that acknowledging one’s weaknesses can contribute to Christian unity.

“Cardinal John Henry Newman preached a number of sermons on sympathy,” Cardinal Kurt Koch wrote to participants in an ecumenical conference. “He was convinced that Christians were much more alike one another, even in their weaknesses, than they often imagined.”

“Receptive ecumenism proposes that, in a dialogue of truth, we are honest about our weaknesses and allow them to become ‘a bond of union,’” Cardinal Koch continued. “[T]he dialogue that begins at the root of things, with the real challenges and woundedness of our ecclesial life, is one in which our relationships grow and deepen.”

 

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Further information:

• Weaknesses as a bond of union (L’Osservatore Romano, p. 6)