The Pope presided over a candlelight vigil on October 11, the anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council in 1962, and texts from council documents introduced the prayers of praise and the prayers of petition.
The Synod participants at the prayer service included the 16 “fraternal delegates” representing Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant churches, as well as the Rome-based representatives of the Anglican, Methodist and Reformed churches to the Holy See and other Christian ministers and faithful in the city.
Pope Francis did not read the meditation he prepared for the service, although it was distributed and published on the Vatican website.
Halfway through the Synod of Bishops, Pope Francis wrote, participants wanted to “express our shame at the scandal of division among Christians, the scandal of our failure to bear common witness to the Lord Jesus”.
“This Synod is an opportunity to do better, to overcome the walls that still exist between us,” the Pope wrote.
The vigil took place in the Square of the Roman Protomartyrs, just south of St Peter’s Basilica, which is the site where St Peter and other Christians were martyred in the first century under the Emperor Nero.
Noting the anniversary of Vatican II, he said the council “marked the official entry of the Catholic Church into the ecumenical movement,” which was begun by mainline Protestant churches out of a conviction that the lack of unity among Christians was harming their ability to preach the Gospel.
The goal of the work for Christian unity is the same as the goal for the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis wrote. Both are focused on the mission Jesus gave to all his disciples to share the good news of salvation with everyone.