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Born in Torre Pellice in 1936, Ricca studied theology at the Waldensian Faculty of Rome, in the United States, obtaining a doctorate in theology in Basel. In the Swiss city he met the Lutheran theologian Oscar Cullmann, of whom he was a student, and Karl Barth.

After carrying out his pastoral ministry in the Waldensian Church in Lazio and Piedmont, he followed the work of the Second Vatican Council as an accredited journalist.

Ricca taught church history at the Waldensian Faculty of Theology in Rome.

He was a member of the WCC Commission on Faith and Order from 1975 to 1991.

Ricca was invited by the commission in 1989 to reflect in a panel on The Unity We Seek" together with theologians Dietrich Ritschl, Janet Crawford, and Dan-Ilie Ciobotea (H.B. Patriarch Daniel of Bucharest). 

Ricca's short remarks, clearly rooted in his Waldensian tradition, were very meaningful to that audience and to many who absorbed his reflections in the decades following. He surmised that the unity we seek is a unity which does not separate apostolic faith from apostolic life.

In order to be fully apostolic, he said, ”it is not enough to hold apostolic doctrine, it is also necessary to live the apostolic life.” 

"Faith and Order,” he added, should be renamed "Faith and Life.”

Second, he noted that the unity we seek should not separate truth from love: "You know very well how many awful things have been done in Christian history in the name of Christian truth,” he said. 

Finally, he pointed out that the unity we seek is a unity in which the freedom of the word of God is not put in chains, "even in gold chains or spiritual chains or mystical chains.”

At the age of 37, he took part in the final editing of the 1973 Leuenberg Agreement that  brought European Lutheran, Reformed, and United churches into church communion, and led to the creation of the Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe.

Author of numerous writings, books, and study texts, Ricca has contributed to the formation of generations of believers and nonbelievers. His work, in fact, has been appreciated by many people of different faiths and no faith. 

Committed to ecumenism, Ricca received appreciation and recognition for his theological work beyond Italy. A profound connoisseur of Karl Barths thought, he loved to repeat his appreciation for the Swiss theologians ability to smile at himself.”

In recent years and especially in recent months his health conditions had gradually worsened, forcing him to stay in hospital. However, until the end he participated, online and in person, in conferences, initiatives, and meetings.

Ricca died in Rome on 14 August at the age of 88.

Dr Andrej Jeftić, director of the WCC Commission on Faith and Order, said Ricca will be remembered as a guiding theologian whose work and ideas critically shaped the formation of generations of ecumenical leaders.

The depth of his thought, and his approachability, enabled his work to be spread across confessional and generational borders,” said Jeftić. We are grateful to him for giving so selflessly as a teacher, mentor, and pastor. We extend condolences to his family and to all who will miss him.”

The Unity We Seek,” address by Paolo Ricca to the WCC Commission on Faith and Order, Budapest, 1989