Bern, Switzerland, Jun 6, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Yesterday, during the second day of his third Apostolic visit to Switzerland, Pope John Paul II gathered with some 70,000 enthusiastic Catholics -many of them Spanish, Italian and Latin American immigrants- at the Allmend Square in Bern, in what turned out to be an unusually enthusiastic celebration of Catholicism.
In his homily, the Holy Father said that the "celebration of the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity constitutes for Christians every year an energetic call to our commitment to unity. It is a call that concerns us all, pastors and faithful, and it drives us to a renewed awareness of our own responsibility in the Church, Christ's bride.”
“How,” he asked, “can we not talk about our concern for ecumenism in light of these words of Christ? I reaffirm also on this occasion the will to go forward on the path, full of joy, to the full communion of believers."
"It is certain, however," he continued, "that a great contribution to the ecumenical cause comes from the commitment of Catholics to live unity amongst themselves.”