Italian cardinal speaks of importance of ‘spirituality of unity’ amid differences in Church
May 27, 2015
In a front-page article that appeared in the May 27 edition of the Vatican newspaper, Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti of Perugia-Città della Pieve emphasized the importance of a “spirituality of unity” in the midst of differences within the Church.
Citing Pope St. John XXIII, Focolare founder Chiara Lubich, and 20th-century Italian politician Giorgio La Pira, the prelate distinguished unity from the “useless unanimity of a façade” or a “hypocritical conformism.”
“A diversity of opinions always represents a time of growth and of development,” he added, as he distinguished the spirituality of unity, which brings inner peace, from a worldly spirit of division and conflict.
This worldly spirit, wrote Cardinal Bassetti, “harms the unity of the Body of Christ, opposes the salvific action of God, and risks neutralizing every work of pastoral renewal.”
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