IN A united service for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in Westminster Cathedral on Tuesday, the previous Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Williams recalled Pope Benedict XVI and his vision of Christian unity.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols presided on the solemn pontifical vespers, attended by the Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury-elect, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, the Archbishop of York, and Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe.
“Remember where Pope Benedict’s theological inspiration comes from,” Lord Williams said in the middle of his address. “It comes from an era within the lifetime of the Church when ‘reason’ was seen not as a tool of argument, but as a vehicle of vision. It was our capability to reason that allowed us to behold and wonder on the world together, to see the order of creation and to participate joyfully in it.
“A human family which doesn’t imagine in reason is a family terminally and fatally divided — not because some people know learn how to argue higher than others, but because we’ve overlooked the notion that what God gives us is the capability to hearken to each other and learn from each other in a standard world.
“Without that gift of reasoned, ordered language that we share with each other, we shan’t ultimately share the identical world. We shall retreat into our corners. We shall battle for our victories.
“Pope Benedict’s approach to those outside the Christian Body and out of doors the Roman Catholic Church was deeply rooted in that vision of the likelihood for human beings to refer to each other, to hearken to each other, to wonder on the world together. ‘Come and allow us to reason together,’ says the Lord to Isaiah in prophecy, and it’s an inexpensive conclusion — as you would possibly say — that the Lord doesn’t mean ‘Let us argue together.’
“Let us reason together, allow us to explore together, allow us to find together what it’s that makes us human, within the firm hope and the arrogance that there truly is a humanity we share. As Pope Benedict approached other communities of religion, he did so with this hope and confidence that we could discover a way of reasoning together.”
Westminster Cathedral Choir and clergy will sing a joint evensong at St Paul’s Cathedral on Friday.
The theme of Week of Prayer, which began last Sunday, was “One Body One Spirit”, inspired by Ephesians 4.4: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling.”
In an announcement last week, the Bishop in Europe, Dr Robert Innes, said: “In a world which is polarised and divided, the Church’s mission to make known its unity feels ever more urgent and essential.” He reflected on the King’s visit to Rome to worship with the Pope within the Sistine Chapel (News, 24 October 2025).
“Their visible togetherness was something everyone could see and understand,” he said. “The enacted togetherness between the Pope and the Supreme Governor of the Church of England helps the world see that what unites us is way more than what divides us. It gives all of us hope and helps all of us imagine.”
The World Council of Churches’ (WCC’s) prayers and reflections were prepared by the Armenian Apostolic Church’s department for inter-Church relations, and the Armenian Catholic, and Evangelical Churches. A reading plan, prayers, and reflective questions draw on the traditions of Armenian Christianity.
Resources can be found to download from the WCC’s website, or to read on YouVersion’s free Bible App. The translations offered are in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Arabic, but “churches are invited to translate the text in additional languages and contextualize or adapt it for their very own use,” the WCC said.
The WCC’s programme executive for spiritual life and faith and order, the Revd Dr Mikie Roberts, said last week: “In many corners of our world, hope is fast fading within the face of unprecedented suffering.
“It is in such times that our collective prayers for Christian unity can function a beacon of hope to many. When Christians are united in prayer, we also acknowledge the oneness in our calling to bear witness to the gospel of Christ.”
Resources might be found at: oikoumene.org
