Pope Francis: We look with hope to unity not division

Christian Unity and reconciliation are possible, Pope Francis said, when he greeted an Ecumenical delegation from Germany, during his weekly General Audience with pilgrims in the Paul the VI Hall.

Recalling this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the Holy Father said we look to "that which unites us - rather than that which divide," and he invited Christians to pray for this week.

The Pope also recalled his visit to Lund in Sweden to commemorate the Reformation, saying: "we continue the journey together to deepen our communion and to give it more and more a 'visible form."

In Europe, the Holy Father stressed, this common faith in Christ is like a green thread of hope" adding that, "communion, unity and reconciliation 'are possible."

He said: " As Christians we are responsible for 'this message and we have to bear witness to it with our lives.'

During his audience Pope Frances continued his catechesis on Christian hope, reflecting on the story of the prophet Jonah, who sought to flee from a difficult mission entrusted to him by the Lord.

He said that: "when the ship that Jonah had boarded was tossed by a storm, the pagan sailors asked him, as a man of God, to pray that they might escape sure death.. the story reminds us of the link between hope and prayer."

Anguish in the face of death, he added, "often makes us recognize our human frailty and our need to pray for salvation."

The Holy Father explained that Jonah prayed on behalf of the sailors and as a result, "the sailors came to acknowledge the true God."

He also underlined that "as the paschal mystery of Christ's death and resurrection makes clear, death itself can be, for each of us, an invitation to hope and an encounter in prayer with the God of our salvation."

Source: Vatican Radio