VATICAN CITY, SEP 18 2000 (ZENIT.org).- "Within the ecumenical movement,
theological dialogue is the proper setting for us to face together the
issues over which Christians have been divided and to build together the
unity to which Christ calls his disciples," John Paul II said this
morning, when he met with some 20 members of the Mixed International
Commission for Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the World
Alliance of Reformed Churches.

The Commission has been meeting in Rome over the past few days, in the
context of the third phase of an international dialogue, which began
shortly after Vatican Council II and which, as the Pontiff himself said,
has already had significant results. The Pope emphasized the importance
of this dialogue to clarify respective positions and explore the reasons
for differences.

"Our dialogue then becomes an examination of conscience, a call to
conversion, in which both sides examine before God their responsibility
to do all that they can to put behind them the conflicts of the past."
For this reason, the Pope confirmed the Catholic Church's "irrevocable"
commitment to the ecumenical dialogue.

Later, referring to the topic of the third phase of the dialogue being
addressed by the Commission, and entitled "Church and Kingdom of God,"
the Pontiff said that recent history has witnessed the sufferings caused
by ideologies that wished to substitute God and his Kingdom. Therefore,
at the beginning of the new millennium, it is critical that all
Christians, "long separated from one another, feel deeply challenged by
the Lord's exhortation: 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God
is at hand, repent, and believe in the Gospel' (Mk 1:15)."
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