wfn.org | WCC UPDATE: Kobia meets Benedict XVI, invites him to Geneva

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World Council of Churches - Update
Contact: + 41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 16/06/2005

KOBIA UNDERLINES CRITICAL AREAS FOR COLLABORATION, INVITES BENEDICT XVI TO
VISIT WCC

A three-point agenda for further collaboration - understanding of the
church, spirituality, and ecumenical formation - was proposed by World
Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia to Pope
Benedict XVI during their meeting today at the Vatican. Kobia also invited
the pope to visit the WCC headquarters "as yet one more concrete step in
our long journey towards visible unity".

In his remarks, Benedict XVI assured Kobia that the church he heads is
"eager to continue cooperation" with the WCC, and expressed hope that the
visit had been "fruitful, strengthening the bonds of understanding and
friendship between us". "The commitment of the Catholic Church to the
search for Christian unity is irreversible," said the pope.

The three above-mentioned "areas of capital importance" for collaboration
were at the heart of Kobia's remarks to Benedict XVI at what was a first
meeting since both took up their current positions, and before a private
conversation between the two took place.

Dialogue about the understanding of the church (ecclesiology in theological jargon) is currently important among the Council's member churches since
it affects, among other things, "their ability or inability to recognize
one another as churches". The WCC "would like to encourage dialogue on
these fundamental questions," Kobia told the pope, "in our relationships
with all our ecumenical partners".

Spirituality, defined as a search for "a holy ground on which to stand"
and from which "to exercise leverage on a world in need of transformation
and hope", was another topic listed by the WCC general secretary as
deserving collaboration. "Grounded on the fertile soil of our respective
spiritual treasures, we could seek together a stable place of moral
clarity and confidence amid today's turbulent human landscape of shifting
values, uncertain hopes and crumbling commitments," Kobia suggested.

As to ecumenical formation, Kobia affirmed that at a time when the
"classical ways" of doing it are "progressively diminishing," it becomes
an "imperative" to work in order that "important steps towards visible
unity" are "communicated, fully received, and put into practice in the
lives of the churches".

More information on collaboration between WCC and the Roman Catholic
Church is available on the WCC website at:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/ecumenical/index-e.html#rcc

The full text of Dr Kobia's address is available at:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/ecumenical/kobiaatvatican2005.html

The full text of Pope Benedict XVI is available at:
http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/16687.php?index=16687&po_date=16.06.2005&lang=en

> The full text of Kobia's address follows:

Address by Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of
Churches, to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, on the occasion of their
meeting at the Vatican, June 16, 2005.

Your Holiness,

1. It is a great honour to be here, accompanied by Bishop Eberhardt Renz,
from the Evangelical Church in Germany, President of the WCC, and by
Archbishop Makarios of Kenya and Irinoupolis, from the Greek Orthodox
Patriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa, member of the WCC Central
Committee, by my wife Ruth and by members of the WCC staff. Together we
represent the wide fellowship of the World Council of Churches.

2. My visit to Rome takes place in a joyful and promising moment, only a
few weeks after your election. I would like to reiterate the assurance
that our prayers accompany you in the exercise of your ministry, which you
have inaugurated with clear signals of hope. I would like to express our
deep appreciation for one of your very first messages affirming that you
take as your primary task, your ambition and your impelling duty "to work
tirelessly to rebuild the full and visible unity of all Christ's followers".

3. My visit also takes place in the perspective of a long history of
common commitment to the one ecumenical movement, as we prepare ourselves
to celebrate forty years of collaboration between the RCC and the WCC
through the Joint Working Group.

4. This has been a long journey of common commitment and collaboration
marked by the full and fruitful engagement of the RCC in the WCC's Faith
and Order Commission - of which you yourself were a member from 1968-1975
- and by the valued contribution of RCC-appointed staff to the work of the
Commission on Mission and Evangelism, and at the Ecumenical Institute,
Bossey. It has also been a journey marked by historic events. With
gratitude I recall here the visits of your much esteemed and fondly
remembered predecessors, Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II, to the World
Council of Churches. We would be particularly honoured also to receive
Your Holiness at the World Council of Churches as yet one more concrete
step in our long journey towards visible unity.

5. Being aware of the many challenges of the 21st century, I would like to
underline here three areas of capital importance, where our collaboration
could bear fruit to the benefit of all churches and of the ecumenical
movement as a whole.

5.1. Spirituality. Whether we speak of the "spirituality of the ecumenical
movement" or of a "spiritual ecumenism", we ultimately follow Dietrich
Boenhoeffer's advice to seek for "a spiritual Archimedean point", a holy
ground on which to stand and from which, as Christians, we may be able to
exercise leverage on a world in need of transformation and hope. Therefore, through our ecumenical dialogue and cooperation, grounded on the fertile
soil of our respective spiritual treasures, we could seek together a
stable place of moral clarity and confidence amid today's turbulent human
landscape of shifting values, uncertain hopes and crumbling commitments.

5.2. Ecumenical Formation. Ecumenical formation is an imperative today. It
invites the younger generation to be informed of, to receive, and to take
active part in, the efforts to build community in the one household of
God. In the last decades, the relationships between churches have changed
radically from isolation to mutual respect, cooperation, and - especially
between churches from the Reformation - also eucharistic fellowship. The
history of the churches' ecumenical pilgrimage is being constantly
enriched. At the same time, however, the classical ways of ecumenical
formation are progressively diminishing. Important steps towards visible
unity are not being sufficiently communicated, fully received, and put
into practice in the lives of the churches.

5.3. Ecclesiology. As one consequence of the work of the Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the WCC, our fellowship is called to pay
renewed attention to the ecclesiological presuppositions lying behind the
commitment to Christian unity. Thus, in deep respect for one another, and
in the spirit of our member churches' commitment to the fellowship they
share within the WCC, we ask our Orthodox member churches: "Is there space
for other churches in Orthodox ecclesiology? How would this space and its
limits be described?" And, similarly, we ask the churches within the
tradition of the Reformation: "How does your church understand, maintain
and express your belonging to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic
Church?"

5.4 Responses to these fundamental ecclesiological questions will
certainly affect whether or not our member churches recognize each other's
baptism, as well as their ability or inability to recognize one another as
churches. They will also affect the way churches understand the goal of
the ecumenical movement and its instruments - including the WCC. Therefore, and for many reasons, we would like to encourage dialogue on these
fundamental questions not only within the Faith and Order Commission, but
also in our relationships with all our ecumenical partners.

6. The member churches of the WCC are exceedingly diverse. But they are
one in their commitment to live out their Christian faith in today's
world: to proclaim that faith as a message of hope for humanity; to find
strength in that faith to resist the forces of meaninglessness and
relativism; to find resources in that faith to resist injustice, and to
bring reconciliation and healing to a world in need.

7. We recognize that our faith is more effective and vibrant when it is
lived out together with our brothers and sisters in Christ; that our
proclamation and prophetic witness, our mission and service are all more
effective when we can pray, confess, speak and act together rather than
separately. Therefore, in concluding I would like to return to the theme
of unity. In baptism Christ has made us His own. In making us his own,
Christ has bound each of us inseparably to Himself - and to each other.
Because it is rooted not in us but in Christ, our bond of unity is
unbreakable. We are one in Christ. May all Christians pray and work
together, in order that that our unity may be visible for all the world to
see!

This material may be reprinted freely.

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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.