Pope Francis received the Finnish ecumenical delegation in the traditional manner on the occasion of the feast of Saint Henry. The meeting took place in the Consistory Hall of the Apostolic Palace in Rome on the morning of Monday, January 20, 2025. The delegation was led by bishops from three Christian churches: Bishop Raimo Goyarrola of the Catholic Church, Archbishop Elia of the Finnish Orthodox Church, and Bishop Matti Salomäki of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.
The Holy Father’s speech to the delegation:
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
I offer a cordial greeting to each of you, who once again this year have come to Rome as an ecumenical delegation on the feast of Saint [Henry]. In a particular way, I greet the new head of the Finnish Orthodox Church, Archbishop Elia of Helsinki and All Finland, to Bishop Raimo Goyarrola of Helsinki and to you, Bishop Matti Salomäki.
Esteemed brother in Christ, I am grateful for the reflections and sentiments that you expressed on behalf of the Lutheran, Catholic and Orthodox participants, and for your thoughtfully chosen gift. In this Holy Year of 2025, we are journeying together as “pilgrims of hope”. On this journey of faith, we are confirmed by the words of the Letter to the Hebrews: “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful” (Heb 10:23). Journeying in hope!
Saint [Henry] is, so to speak, an enduring icon of this hope, which has its sure and enduring foundation in God. As a messenger of peace, he exhorts us to persevere in praying for the precious yet fragile gift of peace. Indeed, we must pray for peace. At the same time, the Patron Saint of Finland is a symbol of God-given unity, as his feast day continues to bring together Christians from different Churches and ecclesial Communities in offering praise to God.
The fact that your pilgrimage to Rome is accompanied by choirs that honour the Triune God with their music is an eloquent sign of “doxological ecumenism”. Thank you to the choir, thank you! Whoever sings, prays twice! I thank you, the singers of the Cappella Sanctae Mariae, for this precious service!
On this musical note, we could say that the Nicene Creed, which we all share, is an extraordinary “score” of faith. And this “symphony of truth” is Jesus Christ himself, the very centre of the symphony. He is truth incarnate, true God and true man, our Lord and Saviour. Whoever listens to this “symphony of truth” – not only with the ears, but with the heart – will be touched by the mystery of God, who reaches out to us, full of love, in his Son. And that faithful love is the basis of the hope that does not disappoint! Never forget this: hope does not disappoint. For “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39).
To testify to this incarnate love is our ecumenical vocation, in the communion of all the baptized. For this reason, I would now invite you to express with filial confidence this, our common vocation, by joining together in the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, each in his or her own language. And thank you for your visit.
[Our Father…]
May God bless us all! Amen.
KATT / Vatican.va
Article picture from Archbishop Elia’s Facebook page: The ecumenical delegation in Rome, Jan. 2025.