A 'worldly mindset' caused divisions in Christianity, the Pope said last Thursday in Geneva.
Not only God, but today’s broken, divided world is begging for unity among Christians, Pope Francis said on an ecumenical pilgrimage to Geneva.
“Our differences must not be excuses,” he said, because as Christ’s disciples, Christians can still pray together, evangelize and serve others.
On his 23rd apostolic journey abroad on June 21, the Pope spent several hours with Christian leaders at the headquarters of the World Council of Churches, a fellowship of 350 ecclesial communities, including many Orthodox churches. The Pope came to help celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of what is the largest and broadest ecumenical fellowship in the world.
Speaking to reporters aboard the papal plane from Rome, the Pope said, “This is a trip toward unity,” representing the “desire for unity.” But it is usually unity on Roman Catholic terms.
Accompanied by the leadership of the WCC, the Pope attended an ecumenical prayer service, marked by songs from the Protestant traditions and the Catholic Church’s theme song for the Jubilee of Mercy. There was a common witness of faith in reciting the Nicene Creed and representatives from the Catholic Church and other Christian communities alternated readings, including a prayer of repentance, which asked God’s forgiveness for their disunity and failure to serve God and all his children.
In his speech, the Pope said, “Our lack of unity” is not only contrary to God’s will, it is “also a scandal to the world.”
The journey requires constant conversion, he said, and a renewed way of thinking that rejects worldliness and seeks to live “in the Spirit, with one’s mind bent on serving others and a heart growing in forgiveness.”
“Divisions between Christians have often arisen because at their root,” he said, “a worldly mindset has seeped in.”
“First self-concern took priority over concern for Christ,” he said, and from there, it was easy for the devil to move in, “separating us.”
Not entirely true. While self-concern and worldliness are a problem at times, Protestantism had a legitimate concern about the enemy's influence in the Roman Church, and separated themselves from error. It was their devotion to God that motivated the Protestant Reformation. Let us never forget this.
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"And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues" (Revelation 18:4).