Ecumenism is understood as the movement that arose, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, to reestablish the unity of all Christians. Those who participate in it are those who invoke the Triune God and confess that Jesus is Lord and Savior. Almost all, although in different ways, aspire to a unique and visible Church of God.
The Ecumenical Movement arose in a Protestant environment and in a missionary context, due to the need to present a united front in pagan countries. It officially began with the Missionary Congress of Edinburgh in Scotland in 1910.
Vatican II taught that there are "elements of ecclesiality" among others ChristiansThe Church of Christ "subsists" in the Catholic Church (LG 8; UR 4.5). Unitatis redintegratio masterfully describes the ecclesiological situation of the various Christians who are not united to Rome. On the one hand, it considers the Eastern Churches that do not recognize the primacy as true (particular) Churches and admires their spiritual and liturgical tradition. On the other hand, he appreciates the Protestants' love for Scripture, but warns that they have lost apostolic succession and, with it, most of the sacraments (UR 22). That is why they are called ecclesial communities. In this case, they would have to resolve not only what refers to the primacy, but also to the episcopate. At the same time, it proposes the search for the communion in collaboration and social cooperation, in theological dialogue and in prayer and conversion, the true motors of ecumenical dialogue. These are the three dimensions in which all ecumenism must develop.
John Paul II ratified these principles in the encyclical Ut unum sint (1995) and showed the closeness to Rome of the Eastern Churches, both Catholic and Orthodox. The Joint Declaration on the doctrine of Justification (1999) was a milestone and a starting point for theological dialogue not only with Lutherans and Methodists (who have subscribed to it), but also with the Reformed. Benedict XVI promoted theological dialogue with Orthodox in the Ravenna Document (2007), which studied the way of exercising the primacy as it was lived in the first millennium of Christianity, when all Christians were still united. The defense of creation and the environment has also been a good point of encounter between different Christians, although it must also reach moral and bioethical questions. With the motu proprio Anglicanorum coetibus (2009), the current Pope Emeritus pointed out a possible solution to the question of defectus ordinis for ecclesial communities that, for various reasons, may have lost apostolic succession. At the same time, he established the need for communion in the faith as a preliminary step to visible unity.
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With the arrival of the new millennium and the globalizationthe ecumenical map is changing. The Church has shifted from being predominantly Eurocentric to "worldcentric". Moreover, the rapid growth of Evangelicals and Pentecostals has forced the Catholic Church to engage in conversations with them as well. On the other hand, the "ecumenism of blood" - as Pope Francis has called it - has raised certain urgencies and questions different from those raised previously. All three dimensions of dialogue remain necessary: the so-called ecumenism of the hands, of the head and of the heartand cooperation, i.e., in matters of cooperation and social justicein theological dialogue, and in the promotion of the prayer and conversion itself. In recent times, and in preparation for the 500th anniversary of Luther's break with the Catholic Church in 2017, there has been talk of the need for a joint Declaration around the above-mentioned themes of Eucharist, ministry and ecclesiology.
In contrast to the ecumenism practiced in the past, where ecclesiological indifferentism took precedence over other principles (as in the Leuenberg Concord of 1973), a "reconciled diversity" is now proposed, where each one knows where he/she stands in relation to the others, while at the same time promoting the dialogue in love and truth. The gestures and declarations of proximity between different Christian confessions are becoming a happy routine. Like his predecessors, Pope Francis is demonstrating that ecumenism is one of the priorities of his pontificate. After the road we have traveled together, with the clarity of ideas brought by the council, the ardor missionary of the current pontificate, the witness of martyrs of all confessions and - above all - with the action of the Spirit, perhaps there could be interesting ecumenical developments in the coming years. A truly ecumenical moment.
Mr. Pablo Blanco Sarto
Doctor of Theology
