18 June 2020
By Rev.Dr Andrzej Choromanski*, World Council of Churches
Relations with the World Council of Churches
Global Christian Forum
Feature article by Rev.Dr Andrzej Choromanski, Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The article published in Italian in L’Osservatore Romano. The English version published with special permission.
Relations with the World Council of Churches
In the field of multilateral relations, the major partner of the
Catholic Church is the World Council of Churches (WCC). Founded in 1948,
it is the broadest and most inclusive ecumenical organization, bringing
together 350 Christian denominations including Orthodox, Lutherans,
Reformed, Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists as well as United and
Independent churches. Altogether they represent over 500 million
Christians worldwide.
First contacts with the WCC go back to the time of preparations for
the Second Vatican Council when an invitation was issued by the Holy See
to send observers. As in the past the popes had always declined
invitations from the WCC to send observers to its assemblies, there was
some uncertainty whether such an invitation would be answered
positively. However, knowing that Saint John XXIII desired to open the
Catholic Church to the modern ecumenical movement through the Council,
the leadership of the WCC recommended sending observers. During the same
period the Holy See sent for the first time Catholic official observers
to the WCC’s Third Assembly in New Delhi in 1961. Eventually, Willem
Adolph Visser’t Hooft, Dutch Reformed, and then Secretary General of the
WCC, and a Greek theologian from the Bossey Ecumenical Institute, Nikos
Nissiotis, attended all four of the Second Vatican Council’s sessions.
They were among the more than 100 non-Catholics who from 1962 to 1965
joined different sessions of the Council either as delegated observers
or ecumenical guests. They influenced the work of the Council and made a
real contribution to the preparation of the major documents, including
the constitutions on the Liturgy and the Church, the decree on ecumenism
and declarations on religious freedom and on non-Christian religions.
They helped the Council to evolve from what could have been a purely
internal ecclesial matter into a genuinely ecumenical event that
impacted not only the Catholic Church but the whole of Christendom.
During the four years of the Council, Willem Visser ’t Hooft built a
trusting relationship with Cardinal Augustin Bea and his compatriot
Father Johannes Willebrands, both at the time responsible for the new
Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity that Pope John XXIII had set
up on 5 June 1960. Since then a multiform collaboration has developed
between the two entities.
Although the Catholic Church is not a member of the WCC, Catholics
officially appointed by the Holy See are members of its various
commissions and teams, and different dicasteries of the Roman Curia
collaborate with their corresponding programmatic areas. There is joint
preparation of the texts for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, an
active presence of Catholic members in the Commission on World Mission
and Evangelism, fruitful collaboration with the Office for
Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation, as well as on joint projects
promoting justice and peace, concern for migrants and refugees, and the
care of creation.
From the point of view of the pursuit of the goal of full visible
unity, the most important is the collaboration between the WCC and the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), which takes
several tangible forms. One of them is the Joint Working Group (JWG)
which since 1965 has been a catalyst of fruitful cooperation in the
fields of ecumenical formation, mission and evangelism, youth, justice
and peace, and emerging questions related to contemporary modern life.
There also exists a fruitful cooperation in the area of ecumenical
education and formation. The PCPCU has for many years appointed and
sponsored a full-time Catholic professor on the staff of the Ecumenical
Institute at Bossey, near Geneva. Since 2018, this professor has been
the first Catholic dean of the Institute appointed by the Faculty in its
over 70–year long history. Every year in January the students and staff
of the Institute come to Rome for a one week study visit which
culminates in the participation of the group in the ecumenical vespers
presided by the Holy Father on the closing day of the Week of Prayer for
Christian Unity.
As the resolution of doctrinal divergences is indispensable for
recovering full visible unity, the Catholic Church acknowledges the
special importance of the work carried out by the Faith and Order
Commission. It is the most widely representative theological Commission
in the world, comprising Orthodox, Anglican, Protestant, Evangelical,
Pentecostal and, since 1968, Catholic theologians who constitute ten
percent of the membership. The Commission has published an impressive
number of studies on topics including Holy Scripture and Tradition,
Apostolic faith, anthropology, hermeneutics, reconciliation, peace,
preservation of creation, and visible unity. The most important of these
texts are two convergence statements that have helped churches to
overcome some of the biggest doctrinal divergences. Both were prepared
with a substantial input from Catholic scholars in the drafting process.
In 1982, the Commission published ‘Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry’
(BEM), also known as the Lima Statement. It explores the growing
convergence on three themes over which churches have been divided over
centuries. BEM is recognized as one of the most influential achievements
of multilateral theological dialogue. The Faith and Order Secretariat
received 186 official responses from churches. The Catholic response
presented in 1987 speaks with appreciation about the text but also
points out some specific topics for further studies, in particular
ecclesiology. BEM influenced Catholic-Orthodox and Catholic-Protestant
dialogues regarding the mutual recognition of baptism.
After the publication of BEM, ecclesiology became the major study
theme within Faith and Order. In 2013 the Commission published the
second convergence document ‘The Church: Towards a Common Vision’
(TCTCV), which is the result of a two-decade long and intense
theological work including two intermediate texts. The Geneva
Secretariat has received over 75 responses sent by churches, national
councils of churches, theological faculties, ecumenical study groups and
individuals. In 2019 the PCPCU presented an extensive Catholic response
prepared with the input from Episcopal conferences and experts from
around the world. The Response shows that TCTCV synthesizes well the
growing consensus in the field of ecclesiology and points out some
aspects which need further reflection regarding the nature of the
Church, its mission and understanding of its unity.
Special moments in the history of the relations between the Catholic
Church and the WCC were three papal visits to the Ecumenical Centre in
Geneva. To open the road was Saint Pope Paul VI on 10 June 1969. This
was a gesture of high symbolic significance at a time when the
relationship between the Catholic Church and the WCC was still at its
beginnings, and the question of the possibility of the Catholic Church
joining the WCC was intensely discussed. Addressing this issue Paul VI
said: “In all fraternal frankness, We do not consider that the question
of the membership of the Catholic Church in the World Council is so
mature that we can or must give a positive answer. […] It has serious
theological and pastoral implications; it therefore requires in-depth
studies, and embarks on a journey which, We must recognize with honesty,
could be long and difficult”. A report of the JWG published in 1972
came to the conclusion that there were no fundamental obstacles
preventing possible membership. There was no doubt that the Catholic
Church could accept the doctrinal basis of the WCC rooted in the
Trinitarian faith. However, after a sound study, the Holy See decided
not to seek WCC membership in part because of the disparities between
the structure and size of the Catholic Church and in part because of its
theological self-understanding as universal fellowship with a universal
mission and structure. From this perspective the Bishop of Rome cannot
be considered as one among many heads of churches, but as the point of
reference of the unity of all the baptized. The question of Catholic
membership remains open but is not considered a priority at the present
time either by the Catholic Church or by the WCC.
Fifteen years later Saint John Paul II visited WCC on 12 June 1984.
In his speech during an ecumenical worship service he insisted that the
involvement of the Catholic Church in the ecumenical movement was
irreversible and recalled that the newly promulgated Code of Canon Law
included an obligation for Catholic bishops to promote Christian unity.
He also encouraged the intensification of the multilateral doctrinal
dialogue understood as the “common search for the one truth.”
On 21 June 2018, Pope Francis visited the WCC to commemorate the 70th
anniversary of its foundation. This “ecumenical pilgrimage”, as it was
called, was placed under the motto of “Walking, Praying, Working
Together” which reflected well the kind of relationship that the
Catholic Church has been developing with the World Council of Churches
for over half a century. In his reflection during an ecumenical prayer
service, the Holy Father encouraged all Christians to “pray, evangelize
and serve together.” In a meeting that followed the prayer he underlined
that in the face of social disparities, ecumenism today must include
the collaboration of churches for those who are in need, migrants and
refugees and for the many victims of wars, injustice, and natural
disasters. He particularly stressed the need to intensify common efforts
for mission and evangelism. “I am convinced - he said - that an
increased missionary impulse will lead us to greater unity. Just as in
the early days, preaching marked the springtime of the Church, so
evangelization will mark the flowering of a new ecumenical spring.” Pope
Francis was also the first pope to visit the Ecumenical Institute at
Bossey, meeting with the Faculty, students and staff. Reverend Dr Olav
Fykse Tveit, then WCC general secretary, described the visit of Pope
Francis as “a historical milestone in the search for Christian unity and
for the cooperation among the churches for a world with peace and
justice.”
These various aspects of ‘walking together’ are concrete achievements
in the sound and time-tested relationship between the Catholic Church
and the WCC.
Global Christian Forum
Another multilateral body in which the Catholic Church is actively
involved is the Global Christian Forum (GCF), an initiative that emerged
at the end of the last century to respond to a new ecumenical situation
marked by a rapid spread of Evangelical, Pentecostal and Independent
churches, the majority of which do not join any ecumenical organization
while many remain interested in interacting with other Christians. To
respond to this need the GCF was established as an ‘open space’ where
representatives of all Churches and Ecclesial Communities could meet
periodically on an equal basis and with balanced participation of all
streams of modern Christianity. The Forum provides a platform for
building relationships of trust and understanding among church leaders,
to foster mutual respect, and to explore together common concerns. One
of the Forum’s unique contributions to the ecumenical movement is the
practice of sharing personal and community faith stories during
meetings. Thanks to the GCF many Evangelical, Pentecostal and
Charismatic communities, which for decades had no relations with
historic churches, are now involved in the ecumenical movement. The
PCPCU has participated actively in all the GCF projects since its
beginnings and together with the WCC, World Evangelical Alliance and
World Pentecostal Fellowship constitutes its four ‘pillars’. Large
Catholic representations attended the three GCF global gatherings in
Limuru, Kenya, 2007, in Manado, Indonesia, 2011, and in Bogota,
Colombia, in 2018. Another important GCF gathering took place in Tirana,
Albania, in 2015 to address the theme of persecution, discrimination
and martyrdom of Christians in the world today. Cardinal Kurt Koch,
President of the PCPCU who led the Catholic delegation, delivered an
encouraging message to the participants from Pope Francis. With no doubt
the GCF process can be acknowledged as an important step taken by
Christians on their ecumenical path towards full visible unity.
Conference of the Secretaries of the Christian World Communions
Another aspect of multilateral ecumenism in which the Catholic Church
is involved is the Conference of the Secretaries of the Christian World
Communions (CS/CWC), an annual meeting that brings together general
secretaries from diverse Christian communions as well as representatives
of some global ecumenical organizations. The Catholic Church is
represented by the Secretary of PCPCU. It meets every year in fall in a
different country and is hosted by a different church. CS/CWC is an
informal forum aiming at the exchange of information, giving direction
to the ecumenical movement and strengthening growth in inter–church
communion. Participants present written reports on important events in
their particular Communions and give an update on the bilateral and
multilateral dialogues in which their Communions are involved. The
Conference does not pass resolutions and does not issue public
statements. Meeting without interruption since its foundation in 1957,
the Conference has significantly contributed to building trust and
partnership among the Church leaders and between their respective
traditions and to foster the coherence of the ecumenical movement
worldwide. The 2019 meeting took place in Christiansfeld, Denmark, and
was hosted by the Moravian Church.
Feature article by Rev.Dr Andrzej Choromanski, Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The article published in Italian in L’Osservatore Romano. The English version published with special permission.