AAS 70 [1978] - El Vaticano

598
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale
On behalf of the World Council of Churches we express our deepest
sympathy with the memhers of the Roman Catholic communion in the
great loss they have sustained by the sudden death of His Holiness
Pope Paul VI.
We recali with special gratitude the visit of His Holiness to Geneva
in 1969 and the keen interest he showed in all our activities. You are
assured of our prayers at this time of grief.
The fifteen years of the Pontificate of His Holiness Pope Paul VI
will be remembered as a crucial period in both the life of the Roman Catholic
Church and that of all other Christian Churches.
Düring thèse years the foundation has been laid for a new and lasting
communion among all Christian Churches. The openness towards other
Churches so strongly desired by the Second Vatican Council and expressed
in the Decree on Ecumenism, has been developed step by step and
has become an irreversible reality. Pope Paul VI constantly sought to
promote and deepen mutual understanding among the Churches. This
was evidenced by his great enthusiasm for the establishment of a Joint
Working Group between the Roman Catholic Church and the World
Council of Churches. His personal commitment both to the tradition
of his own Church and to the cause of unity, evidenced through a life
of deep dévotion and humility, and his keenness on the church's evangelical
witness, have radiated far beyond the boundaries of the Roman
Catholic Church.
Pope Paul VI understood his ministry as an instrument in the service
of peace in the world and indefatigably recalled the duty of the
Church, and indeed of every member of the Church, to contribute to
overcoming the menace of war. He encouraged a more vigorous witness
to justice for the poor and the oppressed. The Encyclical Populorum
Progressio found a strong echo in the hearts of all Christians
concerned with the destructive forces of injustice. His personal example
and his suffering for the maintenance of peace have lef t a deep impression
at a time when relations among the nations are in a state of
such extreme fragility. His pontificate will be remembered as the
period in which many Roman Catholic Christians have discovered new
perspectives of witness and action in the life of society. It will also
be remembered by the personal and friendly contacts established by His
Holiness with the leaders of other communions.
When Pope Paul visited Geneva he spoke of the World Council of
Churches as "the marvellous movement of Christians, of the children