Pope Leo XIV, who chose to inscribe in his episcopal motto a reference to unity in Christ, has invited all Christians to undertake a spiritual journey together.

 

He invited Christians to make a pilgrimage toward the Jubilee of Redemption in 2033, in the perspective of a return to Jerusalem, to the origins of our faith.

 

On Friday, in the Turkish city of Iznik, the site of ancient Nicaea, the leaders of many Christian denominations prayed together at the invitation of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the first ecumenical council.

 

It was a brief but moving ceremony, held near the remains of the Basilica of Saint Neophytos which have re-emerged from the waters of the great lake.

That gathering of leaders of various Christian confessions bore marks of the Gospel: much of Jesus’ preaching took place on the shores of another lake, the Sea of Galilee. Walking along those shores, the Nazarene called two fishermen, Peter and Andrew, and made them his apostles.

 

Yet, the scenic beauty of the place, together with the depth of the gesture that united Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants in prayer, was not enough to eclipse the painful wound of those who were absent.

 

For this reason, when Pope Leo XIV once again met some of those Christian leaders who had been present in Iznik less than twenty-four hours later, he thanked them and expressed the hope that new encounters and moments like that at Nicaea might arise, including with those Churches that had not been able to be present.

 

The Bishop of Rome proposed that the two thousand years since the death and Resurrection of Jesus, and since the birth of the Church in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, be celebrated together.

 

The Successor of Peter addressed this humble and courageous invitation to all, inviting Christians to go beyond Nicaea and return to the origins of the faith, to the place where everything began.

 

Pope Leo recalled the primacy of evangelization and the proclamation of the kerygma, and once again underlined how divisions among Christians are an obstacle to their witness.

 

Returning to Jerusalem means returning to the sacrifice of Golgotha and the tomb found empty by the women on the morning of Easter.

 

It means returning to the place of the Last Supper, where Jesus, after washing the apostles’ feet, broke bread with them. It means returning to the place of Pentecost, when a small group of disappointed and frightened men was transformed into the driving force of the proclamation of the Gospel.

 

Jesus’ disciples were crushed by the death of their Master, but in the Upper Room and then on the shores of the Sea of Galilee they encountered Him risen and alive.

 

In the Upper Room they received the Holy Spirit, who transformed them into tireless missionaries ready to give their lives in order to proclaim that the Man who died on the cross is risen and is the Son of God.

 

Returning to Jerusalem therefore means making ourselves pilgrims, together, so as to gather again in the Upper Room, and thus remember, all together, what truly matters.

It means setting aside what is not essential: the encrustations of ecclesiastical politics, rivalries and claims, strategies, nationalisms, alignments, and so many human traditions that have divided us.

 

It means overcoming divisions by rediscovering the heart of the Gospel message. For this is what the Church needs, and what the world needs.

 

“How great the need for peace, unity and reconciliation around us, within us and among us!” said the Bishop of Rome, Successor of Peter, in the presence of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Successor of Andrew.

 

The invitation to Jerusalem in 2033 is thus an invitation to meet again humbly, as brothers united in service to one another, so as to repeat together the words of the Fisherman of Galilee: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!”