A sign of hope?
"New Pope Vows to Work to Unify Christians"
Wednesday April 20, 2005
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI pledged Wednesday to work to unify all Christians and reach out to other religions as he outlined his goals and made clear he would follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.
Benedict, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, listed top priorities of his papacy in a message read in Latin to cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel for the first Mass celebrated by the 265th leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
He said his �primary task� would be to work to reunify all Christians and that sentiment alone was not enough. �Concrete acts that enter souls and move consciences are needed,� he said.
The new pope said he wanted to continue �an open and sincere dialogue� with other religions and would do everything in his power to improve the ecumenical cause.
The message was clearly designed to show that Benedict was intent on following many of the groundbreaking paths charted by John Paul, who had made reaching out to other religions and trying to heal the 1,000-year-old schism in Christianity a hallmark of his pontificate�
� the Greek Metropolitan Bishop, Chrisostomos of Zakynthos, expressed concern Wednesday that Benedict may not work to unite Christians. Unless his record changes, he said, �it will be a huge thorn, a great difficulty in continuing the efforts of his predecessors with the Orthodox for convergence, as was the will of Christ.�
