UNITY VERSUS FAITHFULNESS

MichNews.com ^ | Dec 23, 2004 | Michael J. Gaynor

[RepCath]

Pope John Paul II recently told his aides that unity among all people, beginning with believers, is his foremost concern and commitment, and that he perceived in pilgrims' faces this search for the unity of the Church and of all people during the meeting of Catholic young people of Switzerland, which he attended in June, and Catholic Action's mass meeting in Loreto, Italy.

"Unity of the Church and unity of the human race! I read this aspiration to unity in the faces of pilgrims of all ages," the Pope said today when meeting with Curial officials in the traditional meeting to exchange Christmas greetings.

Pope John Paul II recalled that the Second Vatican Council constitution stated that the Church has the "mission to be a sign and instrument of profound union with God and of the unity of the whole human race."

And the Pope appealed to the cardinals, bishops, priests, religious and lay people present "to be ever more aware that communion with God and unity among all people, beginning with believers, is our priority commitment."

To promote unity, Pope John Paul II gave the same charge to cardinals that he left in his message for the forthcoming World Day of Peace: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."