MESSAGE OF POPE FRANCIS TO HIS HOLINESS BARTHOLOMEW I ON THE OCCASION OF THE FEAST OF SAINT ANDREW, PATRON SAINT OF THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE

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Our Churches have safeguarded the Apostolic tradition with great care, along with
the teaching of the first Ecumenical Councils and the Church Fathers, despite the
differences that developed in local traditions and in theological formulations, which
need to be more deeply understood and clarified. At the same time both Churches,
with a sense of responsibility towards the world, have sensed that urgent call, which
involves each of us who have been baptized, to proclaim the Gospel to all men and
women. For this reason, we can work together today in the search for peace among
peoples, for the abolition of all forms of slavery, for the respect and dignity of every
human being and for the care of creation. With God’s help, through encounter and
dialogue on our journey together over the last fifty years, we already experience
being in communion, even though it is not yet full and complete.. […]