To the Reverend Doctor Philip Potter
General Secretary, World Council of Churches
The World Council of Churches celebrates, during the present session of the Central Committee, the twenty-fifth anniversary of its foundation. It gives us a welcome occasion to offer our congratulations and the assurance of our prayer.
These years have been rich in activities and events, and the present celebration is surely more than a commemoration of past history. The World Council of Churches has been created in order, by the grace of God, to serve the Churches and Ecclesial Communities in their endeavours to restore and to manifest to all that perfect communion in faith and love which is the gift of Christ to his Church. We earnestly pray that the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of wisdom, may enlighten and strengthen you and that in the obedience of faith you may make progress towards achieving the one hope which belongs to our call (Cfr. Eph. 4, 4).
On the occasion of our visit to the World Council of Churches in Geneva in 1969, we expressed our deep appreciation for the development of the relations between the World Council of Churches and the Catholic Church, two bodies indeed very different in nature, but whose collaboration has proved fruitful (Cfr. AAS 61, 1969, 504). It is our sincere desire that this collaboration may be pursued and intensified, according to the spirit of the Second Vatican Council.
We wish to say a special word of congratulation and encouragement to you, Mr General Secretary, to the members of the Central Committee and to the devoted staff of the World Council of Churches, gathered at this time in Geneva. We would like you to know that we keep you in our prayers and that we follow your work with keen interest and unfailing goodwill.
From the Vatican, 6 August 1973.
