Pope holds private encounter with Pentecostal pastors
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis
has met with a group of Italian Pentecostal pastors, telling them that unity is
achieved by walking patiently together.
The seven Pentecostal
pastors, led by the Pope’s friend Giovanni Traettino from the Evangelical
Church of Reconciliation, had a private audience in the Casa Santa Marta on
Thursday afternoon to continue the dialogue begun by the pontiff’s visit to
their community in Caserta two years ago.
During the informal encounter
Pastor Traettino thanked the Pope for his role “as a brother and an ally” in
accelerating the dialogue between Catholics and Pentecostals.
Pope Francis replied that he
“felt in his heart” the need to undertake steps towards reconciliation, citing
the examples of his meeting with the Waldensian community or with the Russian
Orthodox Patriarch Kirill. Unity, he said, is achieved step by step, through a
patient and continuous journey together. Full unity, he said, will be achieved
after “the Son of Man returns” but in the meantime, he stressed, Christians
must pray, repent of their sins and walk together.
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