Today's world, in particular, yearns for Christians to draw closer together. The Holy Year calendar therefore includes other meetings of an ecumenical nature. As a spiritual event, the Jubilee Year offers Catholics and Lutherans various possibilities to take advantage of together. We were given a foretaste of this by the ecumenical Vespers that we recently celebrated on the occasion of the elevation of St Bridget of Sweden to co-patroness of Europe. This common spiritual space is larger than many of the denominational barriers that still separate us on the threshold of the third millennium.
Full unity is a goal for which it is worth striving.
It is an incentive for the spiritual activity of the whole Church. Regarding these hopeful thoughts, I am convinced that the good relations between the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation provide a basis for all further discussions on resolving the questions that are still open. This prayer will be offered with our thanksgiving to the Lord of history. For we should not only look back at the 2,000 years since Christ, but be able, in view of the Year 2000, to advance confidently with Christ into future. As we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord yesterday, today and for ever, may the peace and blessing of God's incarnate Son be with you all.