Pope in Morocco: ‘Ecumenism of
charity’ allows religious to be neighbours to all
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| Pope Francis meets men and women religious in Rabat's Cathedral of Saint Peter, Morocco (AFP) |
Pope Francis addresses Morocco’s priests, Consecrated Men
and Women and the Ecumenical Council of Churches, urging them to take advantage
of the “ecumenism of charity”, so as to leave nobody behind.
By Francesca Merlo
Pope Francis begins his address by acknowledging that
Christians in Morocco are, in fact, a minority. “Yet”, says the Pope, “to my
mind, this is not a problem”. He realizes that at times “it can be difficult”
for some people. Their situation, he says, reminds him of a question asked by
Jesus: “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it?”
The Pope compares the situation of Christians in the country
to “a little yeast that Mother Church wants to mix in with a great quantity of
flour until all of it is leavened”. Pope Francis explains this metaphor as
Jesus calling Catholics in Morocco to a mission, rather than “choosing us and
sending us forth to become more numerous”.
Not size but capacity
The Pope goes on to explain this further by saying that the
mission of those consecrated men and women present in Rabat’s Cathedral of
Saint Peter is not “determined by the number or size of spaces” that they
occupy. Rather it is determined by their “capacity to generate change and to
awaken compassion”. He specifies: “The problem is not when we are few in
number, but when we are insignificant…”.
Pope Francis urges the Christians present not to think that
they should be the ‘flour’, in order to be significant. “You know very well
that our lives are meant to be the ‘yeast’”, he says. He explains that “being
Christian is about an encounter”, and not “about adhering to a doctrine, or a
temple or an ethnic group”. Because, he says, “we are Christians because we
have been loved and encountered”.
Dialogue
Pope Francis then goes on to express the importance of
dialogue. Quoting Pope Saint Paul VI, he says, “The Church must enter into
dialogue with the world in which She lives”. This dialogue, continues the Pope,
should not be “to follow a fashion”, but rather “out of fidelity”.
Consecrated persons, he continues, “bring to the altar and
to their prayer the lives of all those around them”. Through their voices, in
all different parts of the land, “all creation can constantly pray: ‘Our
Father’”, something which he says, is “so beautiful”. He explains that this
beauty stems from the fact that, “dialogue, then, becomes prayer” and is
carried out in the name of human fraternity, embracing all people, and making
them equal.
Cooperation
For these reasons, the Pope then goes on to thank the
Church’s ministers present for their work in Morocco, as followers of Jesus
Christ. He urges them to “continue to be neighbours to those who are often left
behind, the little ones and the poor, prisoners and migrants”. He also asks
that their ecumenism of charity be a “path of cooperation with our Muslim
brothers and sisters”.
Finally, Pope Francis urges those present to know that “the
Lord always goes before us and opens spaces of hope wherever something or
someone appears hopeless”, so as to continue to be the living sign of the
fraternity to which God has called them. The Pope urges them to use the
Spirit’s help to “bear abundant fruit: of dialogue, justice, peace, truth, and
love” so that human fraternity may continue to grow, stronger and stronger, in
the Land that is so loved by God.
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