Pope Francis on the desire for mutual recognition

Originally shared on Catholicnewsworld.com

At an Ecumenical Service in Latvia last September 24, Pope Francis greeted Latvian Protestants with an appreciation of its work of building unity among diverse churches. He described Latvia’s faithful witness in weaving bonds of communion and unity in our cities by welcoming a diversity of churches, saying “Today [the cathedral] welcomes us, so that the Holy Spirit can continue to weave bonds of communion between us and so make us weavers of unity in our cities, lest our differences turn into divisions. May the Holy Spirit arm us with the weapons of dialogue, understanding and desire for mutual recognition and fraternity.”

May the Holy Spirit arm us with the weapons of dialogue, understanding and desire for mutual recognition...

I have long admired and embraced the wisdom of the talks and writings of Pope Francis, including his important encyclical on the Environment. Most important of all his messages to me has been his repeated call for the rediscovery of “fraternity” as the centerpiece of our moral human action, for affirmation of the communion of souls that we are. His most recent evocation of the Holy Spirit as the force that binds us to each other in our Oneness resonates so much my my own sense that the animating social essence within every one of us is the desire for authentic mutual recognition.