ACI Prensa Staff, 21 January, 2025 / 7:15 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Francis on Monday emphasized the ecumenical vocation shared by Christians during an audience held at the Vatican with Finnish representatives of various Christian denominations who have made a pilgrimage to Rome on the occasion of the feast of St. Henry, celebrated Jan. 19.
The Jan. 20 meeting took place in the Vatican Apostolic Palace and was attended by the head of the Finnish Orthodox Church, Archbishop Elia of Helsinki, as well as Catholic Bishop Raimo Goyarrola of the Diocese of Helsinki and Bishop Matti Salomäki of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
The Holy Father stressed that bearing witness to the incarnate love of Christ “is our ecumenical vocation, in the communion of all the baptized.”
As part of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and the 2025 Jubilee Year, the pontiff stressed that St. Henry, the patron saint of Finland, represents an icon of hope “that finds its sure and firm foundation in God.”
As a messenger of peace, he continued, St. Henry “urges us to never cease lifting up our prayers for the precious and fragile gift of peace.”