wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Benedict XVI: Kobia prays for ecumenical openness

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World Council of Churches - News Release
Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 20/04/2005

BENEDICT XVI:
KOBIA PRAYS FOR RENEWED COMMITMENT TO ECUMENICAL OPENNESS
AND A DIALOGUE OF CONVERSION

In congratulating the newly-elected pope, World Council of Churches (WCC)
general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia prayed for "renewed commitment" to
"ecumenical openness" and "a dialogue of conversion".

Describing Benedict XVI as a man "known for his theological integrity and
ecclesial loyalty, his evangelical simplicity and pastoral sensitivity,"
Kobia expressed his hope that his pontificate will "constitute a time for
the Roman Catholic Church to apply, in a renewed commitment, the teachings
and the spirit of ecumenical openness exemplified in the Second Vatican
Council to the life of her faithful and of the whole Church."

In a 20 April letter from Geneva to the newly-elected pope, Kobia also
emphasized that the ecclesiological vision of the Second Vatican Council
has been "open to all ecclesial values present among Christians of other
traditions," and therefore "has prompted, encouraged and strengthened the
commitment of the Roman Catholic faithful to the journey towards encountering their sisters and brothers in Christ and experiencing the real, though
imperfect, communion with them".

"We pray," says Kobia, "that your Pontificate become a blessed time of
dialogue between churches, of dialogue in truth and love, of dialogue as
an exchange of gifts among Christian churches, a dialogue of conversion".
The full text of the letter follows:

Your Holiness Pope Benedict XVI,

"Grace, mercy and peace be with us from God the Father and from Jesus
Christ, the Father's Son, in truth and love" (2 Jn 3).

In unison with our Roman Catholic sisters and brothers, we praise our
common Lord Jesus Christ for your election as the Bishop of Rome, the
264th successor of Peter, the Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic
Church.

We give thanks to our common Lord Jesus Christ for granting the Roman
Catholic Church a new Bishop of Rome, known for his theological integrity
and ecclesial loyalty, his evangelical simplicity and pastoral sensitivity, a successor to Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XV, both known as
"Primates of peace".

Your election coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Second Vatican
Council, the great beginning of the modern ecumenical journey within the
Roman Catholic Church.

We pray to our common Lord Jesus Christ, asking that your Pontificate
constitute a time for the Roman Catholic Church to apply, in a renewed
commitment, the teachings and the spirit of ecumenical openness exemplified in the Second Vatican Council to the life of her faithful and of the
whole Church.

Through the documents of the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic
Church spoke courageously to her faithful and to the world. Unitatis
Redingetratio emphasized the restoration of unity among churches as a
priority and enabled the Roman Catholic Church to forge new ways of
relationships with other Christian churches. Gaudium et Spes spoke of the
Church in the modern world, and opened new ways of common Christian
witness to the world.

We pray to our common Lord Jesus Christ, asking that your Pontificate be
guided by the ecclesiological vision of the Second Vatican Council, a
vision open to all ecclesial values present among Christians of other
traditions, a vision that has prompted, encouraged and strengthened the
commitment of the Roman Catholic faithful to the journey towards encountering their sisters and brothers in Christ and experiencing the real, though
imperfect, communion with them.

More recently, interpreting the Second Vatican Council, John Paul II has
issued the encyclical Ut Unum Sint. In this important document, Christian
churches have gratefully acknowledged a spirit of humility, coming out
clearly in expressions like "dialogue of consciences", "dialogue of
conversion", and the "acknowledgment, jointly and to each other, that we
are men and women who have sinned".

We pray to our common Lord Jesus Christ, asking that your Pontificate
become a blessed time of dialogue between churches, of dialogue in truth
and love, of dialogue as an exchange of gifts among Christian churches, a
dialogue of conversion.

In the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, cooperation between the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the World Council of
Churches has been strengthened through the Joint Working Group, and
through full membership of the Roman Catholic Church in the Commission on
Faith and Order, and of the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism.
The level of trust and openness that was established has allowed a frank
and open dialogue, has contributed to overcoming difficulties, and has
maintained a close cooperation between the Roman Catholic Church and the
fellowship of churches represented by the WCC.

We pray to our common Lord Jesus Christ, asking that your Pontificate
strengthen existing instruments of working together and initiate new ways
of cooperation between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of
Churches.

In today's world, where violence, injustice, poverty and the HIV/AIDS
pandemic are devastating so many lives, the concern for transmitting the
spiritual resources of the churches to the world has become an ecumenical
pastoral priority.

We pray to our common Lord Jesus Christ, asking that your Pontificate open
new ways for Christian churches to share with one another their spiritual
resources and together bring to the suffering world a message of healing
and a message of hope.

In all these, you will find us ready to journey with you, ready to seek
with you responses to the burning questions of our times, ready to witness
together to the saving, liberating, healing and transforming power of the
gospel of Jesus Christ.

"Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish
abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the
church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen"
(Eph 3:20).

Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia
General Secretary
World Council of Churches
Geneva, 20 April 2005

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The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 347, in
more than 120 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works
cooperatively with the WCC. The highest governing body is the assembly,
which meets approximately every seven years. The WCC was formally
inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its staff is headed by
general secretary Samuel Kobia from the Methodist church in Kenya.