April 4, 2005

With the news of the death of Pope John Paul II, the Conference of European Churches (CEC) joins with Christians of all traditions throughout the world who now turn to God, the God of all comfort, in the most solemn prayer and reflection. A life and ministry of epochal significance in modern Christianity has drawn to its earthly close. Recent years of increasing physical trial and suffering have been mercifully concluded, borne by the grace of him who now says to us anew "I am the resurrection and the life." We in CEC particularly remember our brothers and sisters in the Roman Catholic Church in their especial sense of loss. Yet we also join with theirs our prayers of gratitude for all the grace which was experienced through the life and witness of John Paul II.

For the churches and peoples of Europe John Paul II was a figure of special significance. As a son of Poland he bore in his own life so much of the most tragic experience of Europe in the twentieth century brought by war and oppression, first under Nazi occupation and then under communist totalitarianism. Equally, under these experiences he embodied the finest spirit of European Christianity in refusing to compromise either his faith or his humanity. As a leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Poland it was he who did so much to inspire the cause of freedom and human rights both in his native country and further afield in Eastern Europe. His place in the history of change in Europe during the last quarter of the twentieth century is secure. So too is his record during his long pontificate, of advocating the cause of greater European unity, the building of a "common European house" in which the Christianity of both east and west has to share.

No aspect of his witness was more widely appreciated among all Christians and people of goodwill than his continual call for peace in the world. It was a call underlined by the way he spent himself in travelling so widely, and by his capacity to communicate his convictions in a remarkably personal way even in the largest public gatherings and to young people especially.

The years of John Paul II's pontificate saw the churches of Europe journeying more closely together at many levels. We in CEC have rejoiced in our increasing co-operation with the Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE) which we know could not have happened without the Pope's encouragement. We cherish the recollections of being welcomed as fraternal delegates at the Special Synods of European Bishops in Rome, 1991 and 1999, during which our representatives were personally received and entertained by His Holiness. On these occasions, and when the members of the CEC-CCEE Joint Committee were received by him in Rome in 1998, we were impressed by the sincerity of his welcome, his spirituality expressed in friendship, and his affirmation that there is no alternative to the ecumenical journey.

These and other examples of his encouragement to building bridges between the Roman Catholic and other Churches have been important signs of hope to us, notwithstanding the continuance of deep theological differences, the emergence of new problems and the experiencing of some frustrations on that ecumenical journey in recent years. Hope, as the Apostle Paul says, does not disappoint us.

A time such as this naturally mingles together an immediate sense of loss and uncertainty with memory and reflection on the past. A monumental figure in our landscape is no more. But it is also a time of looking in faith and hope to the God of all ages, whose grace is unbounded and whose kingdom is to come. Our prayers for the Roman Catholic Church embrace especially those to whom will now, under God, be entrusted the solemn charge of electing the successor to Pope John Paul II. They will surely know that they are accompanied in thought and prayer by all Christians who hope for "the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace" to be strengthened in our time. To that end, above all, may they know the presence, power and leading of the Holy Spirit as they seek to be of one mind in making this choice of such moment for their own Church, for the hopes of all Christians, and for the peace and welfare of all humankind.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all, evermore.

Rev. Dr Keith Clements
General Secretary of the Conference of European Churches

Conference of European Churches
The Conference of European Churches (CEC) is a fellowship of some 125 Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican and Old Catholic Churches from all countries of Europe, plus 40 associated organisations. CEC was founded in 1959. It has offices in Geneva, Brussels and Strasbourg.