Pope Francis has made an historic visit to the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland, this week, as part of events marking the organisation’s 70th anniversary.
The Pope joined Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC, at a meeting of the global church body’s Central Committe on Thursday as well as joining in prayers at the Ecumenical Centre’s chapel and visiting the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey.
Pope Francis gives blessing at the ecumenical prayer service with the leadership of the WCC including General Secretary Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit. PICTURE: Albin Hillert/WCC
Tveit described the visit as “a sign of this hope we share”. “It is a milestone in the relations among the churches. We are here as representatives of different churches and traditions from all over the world.”
The Pope said that, for Christians, “walking together is not a ploy to strengthen our own positions, but an act of obedience to the Lord and love for our world”.
“I wanted to take part personally in the celebrations marking this anniversary of the World Council, not least to reaffirm the commitment of the Catholic Church to the cause of ecumenism and to encourage cooperation with the member churches and with our ecumenical partners…The World Council of Churches was born in service to the ecumenical movement, which itself originated in a powerful summons to mission: for how can Christians proclaim the Gospel if they are divided among themselves?”
The Pope described prayer as the “oxygen of ecumenism”.
“Whenever we say ‘Our Father’, we feel an echo within us of our being sons and daughters, but also of our being brothers and sisters.”
Okiki, a deaf person from Nairobi, has carved and painted a cross for Pope Francis. PICTURE: Albin Hillert/WCC
During the visit, Pope Francis was presented with a wooden cross carved by deaf Kenyan man Karim Okiki.
“I would like this cross to speak to Pope Francis and the churches worldwide on the need to embrace persons with disabilities especially the deaf and hard of hearing as part of the church today,” said the 33-year-old from Nairobi where he runs a carpentry shop employing three young people. “Being disabled is part of God’s diversity in creation.”
The cross features three symbols representing the blind and visually impaired, the physically impaired and the deaf. At its centre is a sign language symbol for the inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of church and society.
The World Council of Churches was founded in 1948 and brings together 550 million Christians from Orthodox, Anglican, Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran and Reformed churches. While the Roman Catholic Church is not WCC member, it is a member of the WCC’s Faith and Order Commission and the two cooperate on many matters.
