HONG KONG (SE): A delegation from the Hong Kong Christian Council was received by Pope Francis on May 22. Speaking to the group before his general audience in a room inside the Paul VI Hall, the pope thanked the for council for its visit, reflecting that Christians are called to move forward together on the path to Christian unity, Vatican News reported.
Expressing happiness at seeing Christians united in faith, the pope described the visit as a “real consolation.”
He recalled the late Orthodox Bishop Zizioulas, had remarked that Christian unity would only be realised on the day of the final judgment, saying that “in the meantime we must pray together and work together.”
The pope stressed, “This is very important: working together because we all believe in Jesus Christ; praying together, praying for unity,” he said.
Pope Francis went on to remark on the fact that baptism makes us “all Christians together” and that, he said, makes us friends while we have many “enemies outside.”
He explained that enemies are a reality, just as it is a reality that “the Lord told us: the Church will always be persecuted.”
He said, “The martyrdom of faith is always present in the history of our Churches.”
Finally, he mentioned Pope St. Paul VI’s apostolic visit to Uganda in 1969, when he spoke of the Catholic and Anglican martyrs, whom he said, are all martyrs for the same faith, Vatican Newsreported.
“There are two baptisms: one that we all have—the baptism that we received—and the other, the one that the Lord says is ‘the baptism of blood’: martyrdom. And we all know what martyrdom is for so many Christians who have given their lives for faith.”
The pope also called to mind the late Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, Athenagoras I, who was received by Pope Paul VI and said: “Let’s do one thing: put all the theologians on an island and let them argue among themselves, and we shall move forward in peace.”
Pope Francis concluded asking those present to join him in the Lord’s Prayer.The Hong Kong Christian Council, a Protestant Christian ecumenical organization founded in 1954, is a member of the World Council of Churches and the Christian Conference of Asia.
