"Our globalized world is in great need of unity," Riccardi says

WCC general secretary Samuel Kobia welcomes Prof. Andrea Riccardi at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva.

“We still believe strongly in the work to achieve unity, because it is God’s commandment to us and because our globalized world is in great need of unity,” said Prof. Andrea Riccardi speaking at the World Council of Churches (WCC).

Accompanied by a small delegation, the founder of the Roman Catholic lay community of Sant'Egidio visited the WCC and met its general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia on 20 September. “This visit is an homage and a recognition to the important work the WCC does,” he said. “In a world that speaks of market the WCC speaks of unity.”

Addressing a gathering of WCC staff members, Riccardi spoke about his dream of the world abolishing war as it once abolished slavery; his community’s campaign against the death penalty; the need for US and European Christians to advocate for a more decisive intervention of their governments in favour of peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; the wide field of HIV and AIDS treatment as a potential area of convergence for churches which might not agree on prevention methods; the attitude of comfortable helplessness before the world’s problems in which he thinks some European Christians have sheltered themselves; the - in his view - false dichotomy between helping the poor or changing the world.

“If we can do little, we still have to do it, because even small things are important; but nothing prevents us of having big dreams: we shouldn’t put limits to our hope,” Riccardi affirmed.

See also the website of the Sant’Egidio community