Never grow tired of praying for Christian unity", Pope tells crowd

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity started on Friday. During this week of prayer, Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans and Protestants, "implore the Lord together, in a more intense way, for the gift of communion," the Pontiff reminded the faithful., :

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity started on Friday, as the pope reminds Roman Catholics everywhere to never grow tired of praying for unity to be restored among Christians. Receiving an ecumenical delegation from Finland, Pope Benedict XVI told the delegation that he was humbled by the joint prayer between them and emphasised the importance of prayer to his host, which he said leads us to gain a new perceptive on the Kingdom of God. “Christian unity is a gift from above, stemming from and growing towards loving communion with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The joint prayer of Lutherans and Catholics from Finland is a humble but faithful sharing in the prayer of Jesus, who promised that every prayer raised to the Father in His name would be heard,” the Pope told the Finns, reported the Catholic News Agency. “This indeed, is the royal door of ecumenism: such prayer leads us to look at the Kingdom of God and the unity of the Church in a fresh way; it reinforces our bonds of communion; and it enables us to face courageously the painful memories, social burdens and human weaknesses that are so much a part of our divisions.” The importance of prayer was also emphasised by Protestant Christians. In the U.S., Bishop Christopher Epting, the Presiding Bishop’s deputy for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, told the Episcopal Life Online publication it was only through prayer, especially a common ecumenical prayer that the spiritual task of ecumenical work could be achieved. In the U.K., mainstream denominations’ leaders came together on Friday, in a service, held in Westminster Abbey, to celebrate their commitment to the ecumenical event. Christians around the world are celebrating the event with different denominational leaders coming together to mark an important ecumenical milestone, regardless of their different traditions. The days chosen are of significant importance in the Christian faith. The Week of Prayer is observed in most countries between the Feast of the Confession of St. Peter (January 18) and the Conversion of St. Paul (January 25).