In just a few minutes – at 11:30 Eastern – Pope Benedict will preside at and ecumenical Vespers at St. Paul Outside-the-Walls as a closing to the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
You can watch it live via the Vatican television service or on EWTN.
Via Vatican Radio, here’s a backgrounder – about 9 minutes.
In the face of global instances of racism, poverty and conflict, Christians need more than ever to end their divisions and proclaim the Gospel with one voice, Pope Benedict XVI said.
He made the comments at a Jan. 25 ecumenical prayer service, the liturgy that closed the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, in the Rome Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.
After entering the brightly lit basilica, the pope was joined on the altar by representatives of Orthodox, Anglican and Lutheran churches.
Below the main altar was a recent architectural opening that allows visitors to glimpse what church officials have identified as the tomb of St. Paul. The pope said he was happy that the tomb is now visible to pilgrims and called St. Paul a "tireless builder of unity" in the early church.
After the service, the pope walked into the crypt area and peered through the opening to see the saint’s burial place.
In a sermon, the pope said the theme of this year’s ecumenical prayer week, "Open Our Ears and Loosen Our Tongues," made reference to Christ’s healing miracles in order to underline the importance of healing "incommunicability and division" in the Christian community.
He said the first ecumenical task was to listen to the word of God, which is something all Christians can do together in prayer and reflection on Scripture.
The second task, he said, was to communicate the word of God to others, including those who have never heard the Gospel and those who have "forgotten it and buried it under the worries and deceptions of the world."
"We have to ask ourselves: Have we Christians perhaps become too mute? Don’t we perhaps lack the courage to speak and to witness?" he said.
Image source and full caption.
Good shots of the service itself.
From a while back, Mike Aquilina with links related to the tomb.
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