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Recalling with pleasure the third anniversary of our fraternal meeting in Rome on 10 May 2013, I offer heartfelt best wishes to Your Holiness for peace and health, and I express my joy at the ever deeper spiritual bonds uniting the See of Peter and the See of Mark.
It is with gratitude to the Lord our God that I recall the steps we have taken together along the path of reconciliation and friendship. After centuries of silence, misunderstanding and even hostility, Catholics and Copts increasingly are encountering one another, entering into dialogue, and cooperating together in proclaiming the Gospel and serving humanity. In this renewed spirit of friendship, the Lord helps us to see that the bond uniting us is born of the same call and mission we received from the Father on the day of our baptism. Indeed, it is through baptism that we become members of the one Body of Christ that is the Church (cf. 1 Cor 12:13), God’s own people, who proclaim his praises (cf.1 Pet 2:9). May the Holy Spirit, the mainspring and bearer of all gifts, unite us evermore in the bond of Christian love and guide us in our shared pilgrimage, in truth and charity, towards full communion. |