Pope Francis went to the Basilica of Saint Paul outside the Walls to preside over the celebration of the Second Vespers for the Solemnity of the Conversion of the Apostle Saint Paul, in which he asked to pray for unity in the church.
The celebration, which also coincided with the conclusion of the 57th Week of Prayer for Christian Unity on the theme: “Love the Lord your God… and love your neighbor as yourself,” began at 5:30 p.m.( Rome time).
Representatives of the other Churches and Ecclesial Communities present in Rome participated in the Vespers and, before the Pontiff’s apostolic blessing, Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, addressed a greeting to Pope Francis.
Pope Francis focused his homily on reflecting on the importance of staying united and warned that “dividing is never from God, but from the devil.”
He stressed that only love “that becomes free service, only this love that Jesus proclaimed and lived, will bring separated Christians closer to each other.”
“Yes, only this love, which does not return to the past to put distance or point the finger; “Only this love, which in the name of God puts the brother before the iron defense of the religious system itself, will unite us,” stated the Holy Father.
Likewise, he explained that “everyone baptized belongs to the same Body of Christ” and that we all make up the “symphony of humanity.”
“Do I, and also my community, my Church, my spirituality, become neighbors? Or do they remain entrenched in defense of their interests, jealous of their autonomy, locked in the calculation of their advantages, entering into relationships with others only to obtain something from them?” asked the Pontiff.
The Pope assured that “if this were the case, it would not only be a matter of strategic errors but of infidelity to the Gospel.”
When remembering the conversion of Saint Paul, which the Church celebrates every January 25, Pope Francis pointed out that the Apostle “does not change his life according to his purposes, he does not become better by carrying out his projects.”
“His conversion,” he explained, “is born from an existential change, where primacy no longer belongs to his perfection in the face of the Law, but rather to docility toward God, in total openness to what He wants.”
For the Holy Father, “all efforts towards full unity are called to follow the same itinerary of Saint Paul, to put aside the centrality of our ideas to seek the voice of the Lord and leave initiative and space to Him.”
Along these lines, he urged us to recognize that “we need to convert, to let the Lord change our hearts. This is the way: walk together and serve together, putting prayer as a priority.”
He then thanked the presence of Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, Metropolitan Polycarp, representing the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and all the faithful present from different Christian communities.
Pope Francis also set his sights on the parable of the Good Samaritan and highlighted “that those who behave badly and with indifference are the priest and the Levite, who put the protection of their religious traditions before the needs of the sufferer. First the brother, then the system,” he stated.
He then reiterated that “praying for unity is the first task of our path,” a task he defined as “holy.”
“Together, as brothers and sisters in Christ, let us implore with Paul saying: ‘ What should we do, Lord ?’ And by making this supplication we already have an answer, because the first answer is prayer,” he noted.
He also asked to continue praying for the end of wars, especially in Ukraine and the Holy Land, and assured that Jesus tells us: “Get up,” “to each one of us and our search for unity.”