Pope Stresses Unity at First Synod Interfaith Service

During the first interfaith worship service ever held at a Roman Catholic synod, Pope John Paul II on Thursday said that separation between Christians is “intolerable” and led a prayer asking forgiveness for the “sins” of division.

“Divisions among Christians are contrary to the plan of God,” the pontiff said in a brief sermon, given in English, during the 40-minute service of Christian unity. “Those who are the bearers of his (Christ’s) mission must themselves be reconciled.”

The private service, conducted in the modern synod hall at the Vatican, was attended by 165 Catholic cardinals, archbishops and bishops and by 10 delegate-observers representing the Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox communions. The non-Catholic observers are the first to be invited to a worldwide Catholic synod. Eight synods have been held since the Second Vatican Council ended 20 years ago.

Assessing Vatican II

The Extraordinary Synod was called by the Pope to assess the state of the 800-million-member church in light of reforms launched by Vatican II. Ecumenical relations with other branches of Christianity have been a legacy of the council.

The service began with a hymn, “O Come, Emmanuel,” followed by a prayer read by the Pope:

“Let us acknowledge our sins, especially those which have separated us from our fellow Christians and have provoked or maintained divisions among us. . . . We humbly ask for forgiveness.”

The restoration of unity requires “a restoration of the inner dimension of the Christian life--a wholehearted personal commitment to Jesus Christ which makes intolerable any separation among those who share that commitment,” the pontiff said in his homily.

“Any faltering in the movement towards unity since the impetus of the Second Vatican Council is partly due to the fact that we have not attended enough to this interior dimension.”

Embraces Observers

After the sermon, the Pope exchanged the “peace,” or greeting, by embracing the Rev. Jacques Maury of the World Council of Churches, the Rev. Henry Chadwick of the Anglican Communion and Archbishop Stylianos Harkianakis of the Greek Orthodox Church in Australia. The three observers were seated on the raised platform with John Paul and read Scripture passages in the multilingual service.

Earlier during the synod meeting on Thursday, the bishops scrapped the first draft of a “Message to All Catholics” that will be issued before the assembly closes on Sunday.

The five prelates drafting the statement later presented a revised version generally accepted by the delegates, according to press officer Diarmuid Martin, who briefs reporters twice-daily on synod activities. The synod itself is closed to the media.

Bishop James W. Malone of Youngstown, Ohio, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, said in an interview that the initial draft of the message, which is intended to be an exhortation to Catholics to follow the spirit and teaching of Vatican II, had been “roundly criticized” by the bishops.