wfn.org | GREETING FROM HIS HOLINESS, JOHN PAUL II

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Note #6464 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

27-March-2001

GREETING FROM HIS HOLINESS, JOHN PAUL II
     to
DELEGATION FROM THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (U.S.A.)

Dear Friends in Christ,

The visit of a delegation from the Presbyterian Church USA is indeed a cause
for joy. I greet all of you with affection in the Lord.

Your visit to this City, where the Apostles Peter and Paul shed their blood
for the name of Christ, takes place following the year-long celebration of
the Great Jubilee of the Incarnation and at the dawn of the Third Christian
Millennium. The participation of so many Churches and Ecclesial Communities
in a number of the Jubilee events testifies to our common thanksgiving for
the great outpouring of grace which accompanied the Lord's first coming. It
confirms our commitment to work for full Christian unity as we await his
return in glory.

Despite the significant steps taken in recent decades towards the goal of
visible unity, we must acknowledge that, "as we cross the threshold of the
new millennium, we take with us the sad heritage of the past," and we know
that "there is still a long way to go" (Novo Millennio Ineunte, 48). May we
see the future now opening up before us as a summons form the Lord to be
increasingly "renewed in the spirit of our minds, putting on the new nature,
created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (cf.
Eph 4:34). This in fact is a condition of our being able to overcome the
barriers which still keep Christians apart.

May your stay, and your conversations with the Pontifical Council for
Christian Unity bear abundant fruit for the ecumenical tasks ahead. Upon you
and your families I cordially invoke the joy and peace of our Lord Jesus
Christ.

March 22, 2001

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