“Ecumenism in a Time of Pandemic: From Crisis to Opportunity”. A working paper of the PCPCU

20 January 2022 • Persistent link: iarccum.org/?p=4028

On Thursday 20 January 2022 the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity published a working paper on the consequences of the current pandemic for ecumenical relations. Entitled “Ecumenism in a Time of Pandemic: From Crisis to Opportunity”, the text summarizes the outcomes of a survey undertaken in 2021 among the Bishops’ Conferences and Eastern Catholic Synods.

After analysing the opportunities of the pandemic for relations among Christians, as well as the negative impact, the document identifies a range of challenges that the ecumenical movement faces in a post‒pandemic world. The document aims at offering an initial contribution to reflection in the hope that it may promote further discussion and stimulate dialogue at all levels with other Christians.

The text was presented during an ecumenical panel at the Institute for Ecumenical Studies of the Angelicum held on the theme “Ecumenism in a Time of Pandemic” with the attendance of the students of the Bossey Ecumenical Institute.

After an introductory greeting by Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Bishop Brian Farrell, Secretary of the PCPCU, presented the main outcomes of the working paper prepared by the PCPCU on the basis of a survey amongst the episcopal conferences.

The various ecumenical, ecclesiological and social challenges of the current pandemic were addressed by the following speakers:

Presented at the Institute for Ecumenical Studies of the Angelicum as part of the “CRISIS” research program run by the Pontifical University Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, the text is available in English (original text), French, and Spanish.

Watch the ecumenical panel.