As the Mixed Working-Group of the World Council of Churches and
our Secretariat for Unity is about to hold its first meeting since my election
to the see of Rome, I am anxious to inform it, through you, of my desire to see
the effort intensified with a view to hastening the re-establishment of unity
among all Christians. It is urgent for us, in fact, to be able in full agreement
to bear witness to our faith in Christ and his work of salvation. But even now,
before this unity of faith, sacramental life, and hierarchical ties is
re-established, we must find, in all loyalty to our present real situation, the
ways that will make it possible to bear witness to the faith we already have in
common, and to the incomplete but real communion that already unites us in
Christ and the mystery of his Church. For this purpose I hope you will be able
to find how to ensure a growing collaboration in all the fields in which that is
now possible between the Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches.
I ask the Holy Spirit to give you the lucidity, the imagination,
the prudence, and the courage necessary to forge ahead.
From the Vatican, 23 February1979.
