Pope Francis on Monday
urged world leaders to "promote peaceful coexistence" in the
face of "a devastating outbreak of violence against Christians",
telling the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church,
Pope Matthias I, that today's martyrs are the new seeds of
Christian unity.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is the largest of
the Oriental Orthodox Churches, which rejected the definitions
of the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451, Vatican Radio reported.
In his address, Pope Francis told Pope Matthias I "what
unites us is greater than what divides us," and added that
"shared sufferings have enabled Christians, otherwise divided in
so many ways, to grow closer to one another."
"Just as in the early Church the shedding of the blood of
martyrs became the seed of new Christians, so today the blood of
the many martyrs of all the Churches has become the seed of
Christian unity," Pope Francis said.
"The ecumenism of the martyrs is a summons to us, here and
now, to advance on the path to ever greater unity."
Pope Francis noted that "from the beginning" the Ethiopian
Church has been a Church of martyrs.
"Today too, you are witnessing a devastating outbreak of
violence against Christians and other minorities in the Middle
East and in some parts of Africa," Pope Francis said.
"We cannot fail, yet again, to implore those who govern the
world's political and economic life to promote a peaceful
coexistence based on reciprocal respect and reconciliation,
mutual forgiveness and solidarity."
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