Vatican City, Jan 23, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Before praying the midday Angelus today, the Pope reminded the thousands of faithful gathered in St Peter's Square that "the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is being held over these days.”
“It will end,” he said, “as it usually does in Rome, with the celebration of Vespers, on January 25 in the Basilica of St Paul's Outside-the-Walls.”
I will be spiritually present at that liturgy in which representatives from other Churches and Christian confessions will also participate, and which will be presided by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity."
John Paul II invited Christian communities "to experience with intensity this annual spiritual appointment which, in a certain way, gives us a pre-taste of the joy of full communion, at least in the aspiration and the choral invocation.”