By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Catholics and Methodists can
strengthen each other through a shared witness of faith, especially through
acts of love toward the poor and the marginalized, Pope Francis said.
The mutual call to holiness shared by both communities
“is necessarily a call to communion with others, too,” the pope said
Oct. 19.
“When, as Catholics and Methodists, we join in
assisting and comforting the weak and the marginalized — those who in the
midst of our societies feel distant, foreign and alienated — we are responding
to the Lord’s summons,” he said.
The pope met at the Vatican with members of the World
Methodist Council who were in Rome to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the
formation of the Joint International Methodist-Catholic Dialogue Commission.
Welcoming the delegation members, the pope said that in the
Bible, the 50th year is a significant moment for the people of Israel in which
liberty is proclaimed throughout the land.
“We are grateful to God because we can say that, in a
certain sense, we too have been freed from the slavery of estrangement and
mutual suspicion,” he said.
Citing the Second Vatican Council, the pope said that since
then, both communities have striven to continue along the path of knowledge and
mutual esteem through dialogue that is carried out “in a spirit of honesty
and integrity” with “love for the truth, with charity and with
humility.”
“We are brothers and sisters who, following a long
separation, are happy once more to see and learn about one another, and to move
forward with open hearts,” he said.
The pope also recalled the life and example of John Wesley,
one of the founders of Methodism, who dedicated his life to helping others
“live a holy life.”
By recognizing those who dedicate themselves to reading the
Bible and to prayer, he said, Catholics “cannot fail to rejoice” when
the work of the Holy Spirit is recognized “in other Christian
confessions.”
Like the disciples awaiting the arrival of the Holy Spirit
at Pentecost, Catholics and Methodists must “remain together” in
prayer and hope so that the Spirit of God may “bring about the miracle of
reconciled unity.”
“We have learned to see one another as brothers and
sisters in Christ,” Pope Francis said. “Now is the time to prepare
ourselves, with humble hope and concrete efforts, for that full recognition
that will come about, by God’s grace, when at last we will be able to join one
another in the breaking of the bread.”
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Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju.
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