In an unprecedented act in the country’s religious history, Ecuadorian Cardinal Bernardino Echeverria offered a sermon in the Anglican Church’s El Salvador Cathedral.

The high-ranking Catholic leader spoke at the inaugural service for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, held in the Anglican Cathedral. In his vibrant sermon, Cardinal Echeverria praised the ecumenical initiative and emphasized the importance of all Christians working for unity.

“It is the first time that I have participated in a worship service in a non-Catholic Church and I have realized how much we have in common,” said the prelate. He recalled the emphasis that the II Vatican Council placed on ecumenism and underlined the fact that Pope John Paul II exhorted Christians to persevere in prayer and to seek the aid of the Holy Spirit in the search for Church unity.

Relations between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church have taken a further step with the publication of a Response by the House of Bishops to the Pope’s 1995 Encyclical on Christian unity Ut Unum Sint. In the Encyclical, the Pope invited “church leaders and their theologians” to engage with him “in a patient and fraternal dialogue” on the ministry of unity which belongs to the Bishop of Rome.

In May 1995, Lambeth Palace and the Council of Christian Unity welcomed the publication of Ut Unum Sint with its reaffirmation of the ecumenical vision of the Second Vatican Council and its strong commitment to the goal of Christian unity. A more considered response to the Encyclical was promised and encouragement was given to members of the Church of England to explore the text.