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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis delivered the homily at the closing Vespers of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in the Basilica of St. Paul "Outside the Walls" in Rome on Monday evening. Below, please find Vatican Radio's full English translation of the Holy Father's prepared remarks.

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“I am the least of the Apostles … because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace in me was not without effect.” That’s how the Apostle Paul sums up the significance of his conversion. Coming after his dramatic encounter with the Risen Christ on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus, it is not primarily a moral conversion but rather an transforming experience of the grace of Christ, and at the same time, a call to the new mission of announcing to everyone the Jesus that he previously persecuted by persecuting the disciples of Christ. At that moment, in fact, Paul understands that there is a real and transcendent union between the eternally living Christ and his followers: Jesus lives and is present in them and they live in him. The vocation to be an Apostle is founded not on Paul’s human merits, which he considers to be ‘the least’ and ‘unworthy’, but rather on the infinite goodness of God who chose him and entrusted him with his ministry.

St Paul also bears witness to a similar understanding of what happened on the road to Damascus in his first letter to Timothy: I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” The overflowing mercy of God is the sole reason upon which Paul’s ministry is based and at the same time it is that which the Apostle must announce to the everyone.

The experience of St Paul is similar to that of the community to which the Apostle Peter writes his first letter. St Peter is writing to members of small and fragile communities, exposed to threats of persecution, and he applies to them the glorious titles attributed to the holy people of God: a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession. For those first Christians, like today for all of us baptized Christians, it is a source of comfort and of constant amazement to know that we have been chosen to be part of God’s plan of salvation, put into effect through Jesus Christ and through the Church. “Why Lord? Why me? Why is it us?” Here we touch the mystery of mercy and of God’s choice. The Father loves us all and wants to save us all, and for this reason He calls some people conquering them through His grace, so that through them His love can reach all people. The mission of the whole people of God is to announce the marvelous works of the Lord, first and foremost the Pasqual mystery of Christ, through which we have passed from the darkness of sin and death to the splendor of His new and eternal life.

In light of the Word of God which we have been listening to, and which has guided us during this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, we can truly affirm that all of us, believers in Christ, have been called to proclaim the mighty works of God. Beyond the differences which still separate us, we recognise with joy that at the origin of our Christian  life there is always a call from God Himself. We can make progress on the path to full visible communion between us Christians not only when we come closer to each other, but above all as we convert ourselves to the Lord, who through His grace, chooses and calls us to be His disciples. And converting ourselves means letting the Lord live and work in us. For this reason, when Christians of different Churches listen to the Word of God together and seek to put it into practice, they make important steps towards unity.it is not only the call which unites us, but we also share the same mission to proclaim to all the marvelous works of God. Like St Paul, and like the people to whom St Peter is writing, we too cannot fail to announce God’s merciful love which has conquered and transformed us. While we are moving towards full communion among Christians, we can already develop many forms of cooperation to aid the spread of the Gospel.  By walking and working together, we realise that we are already united in the name of the Lord.

In this Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, we must always keep in mind that there cannot be an authentic search for Christian unity without trusting fully in the Father’s mercy. We ask first of all for forgiveness for the sins of our divisions, which are an open wound in the Body of Christ. As Bishop of Rome and pastor of the Catholic Church, I want to ask for mercy and forgiveness for the behavior of Catholics towards Christians of other Churches which has not reflected Gospel values. At the same time, I invite all Catholic brothers and sisters to forgive if they, today or in the past, have been offended by other Christians. We cannot cancel out what has happened, but we do not want to let the weight of past faults continue to contaminate our relationships. God’s mercy will renew our relationships.

In this atmosphere of intense prayer, I extend fraternal greetings to his Eminence Metropolitan Gennadios, representing the Ecumenical Patriarch, to His Grace David Moxon, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s personal representative in Rome, and all the representatives of the other Churches and ecclesial communities who are gathered here this evening. With them we walked through the Holy Door of this Basilica to remind ourselves that the only door which leads to salvation is Jesus Christ our Lord, the merciful face of the Father. I cordially greet also the young Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox students who are here in Rome with the support of the Committee for Cultural Collaboration with the orthodox churches, working through the Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, as well as the students from the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey who are visiting Rome to deepen their knowledge of the Catholic Church.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us unite ourselves with the prayer that Jesus Christ prayed to his Father: “May they be one, so that the world may believe”. Unity is the gift of mercy from God the Father. In front of the tomb of St Paul, the apostle and martyr, kept here in this splendid Basilica, we feel that our humble request is sustained by the intercession of the multitudes of Christian martyrs, past and present. They replied generously to the call of the Lord, they gave faithful witness with their lives to the wonderful works that God has done for us and they already enjoy full communion in the presence of God the Father. Sustained by their example and comforted by their intercessions, we make our humble prayer to God.

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis asked for 'mercy and forgiveness' for the way Christians have behaved towards each other, saying we cannot let the weight of past faults continue to contaminate our relationships. The Pope's words came in his homily at an ecumenical celebration of Vespers on Monday evening in the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls marking the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. In his prepared remarks, the Holy Father focused on the need for divided Christian communities to walk together in the way of the Lord, in the knowledge that unity is a gift of heaven and in the understanding that all service rendered to the cause of the one Gospel builds up the one true Church and gives glory to the one Lord, Jesus Christ.

“While we journey together toward full communion,” said Pope Francis, “we can begin already to develop many forms of cooperation in order to favor the spread of the Gospel – and walking together, we become aware that we are already united in the name of the Lord.”

Pope Francis placed his reflections in the key of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, saying that as Bishop of Rome, he wanted "to ask for forgiveness for the behaviour of Catholics towards Christians of other Churches" which has not reflected Gospel values. At the same time, he said, "I invite all Catholics to forgive if they - today or in the past - have been offended by other Christians". “In this extraordinary Jubilee year of mercy, we must always keep in mind that there cannot be an authentic search for Christian unity without trusting fully in the Father’s mercy,” he said. “God’s mercy,” the Pope said, “will renew our relationships.”

Pope Francis told representatives of the other Christian Churches and communities present in the Basilica that we can make progress on the path to full visible communion "not only when we come closer to each other, but above all as we convert ourselves to the Lord". At the start of Vespers, the Pope invited Orthodox Metropolitan Gennadios, representing the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and Anglican Archbishop David Moxon to walk with him through the Holy Door of the Basilica, while at the end of the celebration he invited them to join him in giving the final blessing.

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"You are preparing to respond to that impulse from the Spirit, to be the 'future of the Church', in accordance with God's heart; not with individual preferences or passing fashions, but as the announcement of the Gospel requires", said the Pope this morning as he received in audience the Pontifical Community of the Lombard Seminary in Rome, in the Clementine Hall. "To prepare oneself well requires not only extensive work, but also an inner conversion, basing daily ministry on the first call of Jesus, and reviving it in the personal relationship with Him, as did the apostle Paul, whose conversion we remember today".

The pope went on to mention St. Charles Borromeo, whose life is presented as "a constant movement of conversion, reflecting the image of the Pastor. He identified with this image, and he nurtured it with his life, aware that discourse becomes reality at the price of blood: the sanguinis ministri were for him the true priests. He achieved this image by losing himself in it; he applied all his passion to reproducing it. In this way, the great work of the theologians of the time, the Council of Trent, was carried out by holy pastors like Borromeo".

Francis also emphasised that they were the heirs of and witnesses to a great history of sainthood, "rooted in your patrons, the bishops Ambrose and Charles; and in more recent times your alumni have included three Blesseds and three Servants of God. This is the goal to strive for. Often, though, a temptation appears on the way, to be rejected: that of 'normality', of a pastor for whom a 'normal' life is enough. This priest then begins to content himself with any attention he receives, judges his ministry on the basis of his successes and gradually goes in search of what he likes, becoming lukewarm and without true interest in others. The 'normality' for us is instead pastoral holiness, the giving of life. If a priest decides merely to become a normal person, he will be a mediocre priest, or worse".

"The words of life can be announced only those who make their own life into a constant dialogue with the Word of God, or better, with God who speaks. In these years you have been entrusted with the mission of training in this dialogue of life: the knowledge of the various disciplines you study is not an end in itself, but must instead be made concrete in the conversation of prayer and in the real encounter with people. It is not beneficial to form oneself in a compartmentalised fashion, as prayer, cultural and pastoral ministry are the cornerstones of the same edifice: they must remain steadfast and united to support each other, well cemented together, so that the priests of today and tomorrow will be spiritual men and merciful pastors, unified within by the love of the Lord and able to spread the joy of the Gospel in the simplicity of life".

The Pope also remarked that to be a good priest, it is essential to maintain contact and closeness with the bishop. "The characteristic of the diocesan priest is precisely his diocesan nature, and the cornerstone of this is frequent contact with the bishop, in dialogue and discernment with him. A priest who does not maintain a close relationship with his bishop is slowly isolated from the diocesan group and his fruitfulness diminishes, precisely because he does not participate in dialogue with the Father of the Diocese". He concluded by asking those present to "cultivate the beauty of friendship and the art of establishing relations, so as to create a priestly fraternity, made stronger by its particular diversities".

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’ visit to the Swedish city of Lund at the end of October to take part in a joint commemoration of the start of the Reformation will mark the first time that this event has been celebrated in an ecumenical way.

The Vatican announced on Monday that the Pope and leaders of the World Lutheran Federation will jointly host the event on October 31st in cooperation with the Church of Sweden and the Catholic diocese of Stockholm.

In the past, all major anniversaries of the Reformation have been moments of “conflict and rivalry”, according to Bishop Brian Farrell, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. He told Philippa Hitchen the event will mark, in a highly symbolic way, the fruits of 50 years of patient dialogue between his Council and the Lutheran World Federation

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Bishop Farrell says the Catholic-Lutheran dialogue has made such significant progress because “we’ve been able to go to the heart of the controversies of the 16th century” and at the same time, develop a new understanding, mutual trust and a real capacity to work together on many projects. The event in Lund, he suggests, comes “almost as a signature at the end of these 50 years and an opening of a new phase of positive dialogue with the Protestant world”.

Bishop Farrell says people in the pews are sometimes impatient with the slow progress of theological dialogue, but he adds the “Churches have to be sure that the steps being taken correspond to their innermost treasury of truth”.

Reflecting on the gifts that the Reformation brought to the whole Christian world, Bishop Farrell says it’s clear that Luther was speaking the truth when he protested against the many abuses in the Church, abuses that the Council of Trent then worked to correct. In the struggles and conflicts that followed the Reformation, he says, the two sides hardened in rejection of the other “so that the idea that Luther was right” about certain things was lost. 

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Rome, Italy, Jan 25, 2016 / 11:54 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis on Monday marked the conclusion of the Week for Christian Unity, saying all Christians are united by the call to conversion and the mission to proclaim the Gospel.  

“Beyond the differences that still separate us, we joyfully recognize that, at the origin of the Christian life there is always a call whose author is God,” the Pope during his Jan. 25 homily at Vespers for the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul.

“Conversion means let the Lord live and work in us,” the Roman Pontiff said. “For this reason, when Christians of different churches together to the Word of God listen and try to put it into practice, they accomplish truly important steps towards unity.”

“The mission of the whole people of God is to proclaim the wonderful deeds of the Lord, above all the Paschal mystery of Christ, through whom we have passed from the darkness of sin and death, the glory of his life, the new and eternal.”

The annual Week for Christian Unity runs Jan. 18-25, and is organized by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, the Commission on Faith, and the Order of the World Council of Churches.

This year’s theme, “Called to proclaim the mighty acts of the Lord,” is taken from chapter two of the First Book of Peter, and was chosen by a group from Latvia, which is home to a strong presence of Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians.

Presiding over the event at Rome's Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Pope Francis recounted in his homily the story of Paul (previously known as Saul), a Jew who, before his conversion, had persecuted the early Christians. As the account goes, Saul was thrown from his horses and blinded while en route to Damascus. Hearing a voice say: "Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?” Asking who was speaking, Saul heard in reply: "Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecute.”

“In that moment, in fact, Paul understood that, between the eternally living Christ and his followers, there is a real and transcendent union: Jesus lives and is present in them, and they live in him,” the Pope said.

“The vocation to be an apostle is based not the human merit of Paul, who considered himself to be 'lowly' and 'unworthy', but on the infinite goodness of God, who chose him and entrusted him with the ministry.”

The Pope spoke on Paul's gratitude for the mercy which enabled him to serve God, despite having formerly been a “blasphemer” and “persecutor.”

“The abundant mercy of God is the only reason on which is established Paul's ministry and at the same time, it is what the Apostle must announce to all.”

Pope Francis observed how Paul's experience was like that of the early Christian communities.

“For these early Christians, like for all of us baptized today, it is a source of comfort and constant wonder to know we have been selected to be part of God's the plan for salvation, carried out in Jesus Christ and in the Church.”

“We draw here the mystery of God's mercy and choice: the Father loves everyone and wants to save everyone, and for this it is called by some 'conquering' with his grace, because through them his love reaches everyone.”

Reflecting on the Week for Christian Unity, Pope Francis noted how all believers in Christ are called to proclaim his wondrous works.

He spoke of moving toward “full visible communion among Christians,” not only in becoming closer, but in being converted by the Lord's grace, and the call to be his disciples.

We are united not only by the same call but by the same mission, the Pope said: “to proclaim to all the wonderful works of God.”

“As we journey towards full communion between us, we can already develop multiple forms of collaboration in order to promote the spread of the Gospel,” he said. “And walking and working together, we realize that we are already united in the name of the Lord.”

Reflecting on the current Jubilee Year of Mercy,  Pope Francis said the authentic search for Christian unity depends on being fully entrusted to the Father's mercy.

“First of all we ask forgiveness for the sin of our divisions, which are an open wound in the Body of Christ,” he said.

Speaking as Bishop of Rome and leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis asked for mercy and forgiveness on account of the “non-evangelical” behavior on the part of Catholics toward their separated brethren.

He also called on Catholics to forgive wrongs done to them by other Christians.

“We can not undo what has been, but we will not allow the weight of past sins continue to pollute our relationships. The mercy of God renewed our relationships.”

Pope Francis welcomed the representatives of all the various Churches and ecclesial communities present at the gathering.

“With them we passed through the Holy Door of this Basilica to remember that the only door which leads us to salvation is Jesus Christ our Lord, the merciful face of the Father.”

“Unity is the gift of the mercy of God the Father,” the Pope said.

Concluding his homily he indicated the tomb of St. Paul, who is buried under the main altar of the basilica.

“Here before the tomb of St. Paul, apostle and martyr, kept in this splendid basilica, we feel that our humble request is supported by the intercession of the multitude of Christian martyrs of yesterday and today.”

“They have responded generously to the call of the Lord, they gave faithful witness, with their lives, the wonderful works that God has done for us, and experience already in full communion with the presence of God the Father.”

“Sustained by their example – as we see, for instance, in the ecumenism of blood – and comforted by their intercession, we turn to God our humble prayer.”

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IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring

By Cindy Wooden

ROME (CNS) -- After walking across the threshold of the Holy Door with an Orthodox metropolitan and an Anglican archbishop, Pope Francis invoked God's mercy upon divided Christians and apologized for times that Catholics may have hurt members of other denominations.

"As bishop of Rome and pastor of the Catholic Church, I want to beg for mercy and forgiveness for un-Gospel-like behavior on the part of Catholics against Christians of other churches," the pope said Jan. 25 at a prayer service concluding the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

"We ask most of all for forgiveness for the sin of our divisions, which are an open wound on the body of Christ," Pope Francis said.

"At the same time, I ask all my Catholic brothers and sisters to forgive if, today or in the past, they were hurt by other Christians," he said. "We cannot erase what happened, but we do not want to allow the burden of past faults to continue to poison our relationships."

As is customary, Pope Francis led the service at Rome's Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, which tradition holds as the burial site of the apostle. Orthodox Metropolitan Gennadios, representing the ecumenical patriarch, and Anglican Archbishop David Moxon, representing the archbishop of Canterbury, joined the pope in prayer at St. Paul's tomb at the beginning of the service.

St. Paul and countless Christian martyrs throughout the centuries gave their lives for their faith in Christ and now enjoy "full communion in the presence of God the father," the pope said in his homily. He prayed the martyrs would sustain today's Christians with their prayers and their example.

The annual week of prayer ends Jan. 25, the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. Pope Francis told those gathered in the basilica that "the superabundance of God's mercy" was the only basis for Paul's conversion from being a persecutor of Christians to a preacher of the Gospel. Mercy saved him, and proclaiming that mercy to others was the mission he received.

For the 2016 week of prayer, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the World Council of Churches chose the theme, "Called to proclaim the mighty acts of the Lord," which is drawn from some translations of the second chapter of the First Letter of Peter.

The passage (1 Pt 2:9,) Pope Francis said, originally was addressed to "members of small and fragile communities," yet calls them "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own."

Being chosen for salvation, the pope said, inspires "comfort and constant awe" among Christians today just like in the days of Sts. Peter and Paul. "Why me, Lord? Why us," Christians should and do ask.

The answer, Pope Francis said has to do with "the mystery of mercy and of God's choice: The father loves everyone and wants to save all," so he chooses people and sends them out to share God's mercy and love with others.

"Beyond the differences that still separate us," he told the ecumenical gathering, "we recognize with joy that at the origin of the Christian life there is always a call whose author is God himself."

The path to Christian unity, he said, is not simply about drawing closer to one another, but has more to do with each person drawing closer to Christ and finding each other there.

"When all Christians of different churches listen to the word of God and try to put it into practice," the pope said, "they truly take important steps toward unity."

"It is not only the call that unites us," he said, "we are joined by the same mission: to proclaim to all the mighty acts of the Lord."

"Walking together and working together, we will become aware that we are already united in the name of the Lord," he said. "Unity is made by walking."

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