For the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, that runs from 18th through the 25th of January, Christians around the world are encouraged to pray for peace and brotherhood between all churches. We spoke to Cardinal Kurt Koch, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity, about the efforts he is making to bring about this harmony. He reflected the wars between Christians around the world, the upcoming papal trip to South Sudan and Congo, and the ecumenical nature of the Synod on Synodality. Most importantly, however, he emphasised the importance of prayer as the starting point for all efforts towards unity: humanity, on its own, will only divide, but it is Christ who can unite us.

Cardinal Koch was interviewed on the 18th of January by EWTN Vatican Bureau Cheif, Andreas Thonhauser, at the offices of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity. The transcript below has been edited for length and clarity.

Andreas Thonhauser  

Your Eminence, we are at war in Europe right now. How is this affecting Christian unity? 

Cardinal Kurt Koch 

With the war in Ukraine, I think we have a very difficult situation, because in Christians kill Christians, and, more specifically, Orthodox kill Orthodox. This is not a good message for the world, because we Christians have a duty to work for peace. Religion cannot be part of the problem of war, but must rather be part of efforts for reconciliation. 

Andreas Thonhauser 

What is your dicastery doing in this regard? I know that you have many contacts, also in the European East. What would you say is happening in this regard? 

Cardinal Kurt Koch

Our responsibility is religious matters. All the political and diplomatic matters are the responsibility of the Vatican’s Secretary of State. But we work together. 

For us, it is very important that we can continue the relations with the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate in Moscow. But it is a very difficult situation, because it seems as though the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate supports this war, and we have another vision: as the Holy Father has said many times, this war is senseless and blasphemous. But we must keep open the door for relations. 

Andreas Thonhauser 

Today is also the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. What does the church see as the goal of this week? 

Cardinal Kurt Koch

The Week of Prayer was one of the first established efforts of the ecumenical movement. It is a very beautiful sign. We, humankind, cannot find unity. We only make problems and divisions, as we see in the past but also in the present. Unity is always the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the best method for working towards this gift is prayer. The best example of all ecumenical engagement is the priestly prayer from Jesus in John 17. It is very interesting that Jesus does not demand unity from His disciples, but He prays for the unity. If even Jesus prayed for unity, we cannot do anything better. 

Andreas Thonhauser 

Often, theological differences separate different churches from the Catholic Church. When working for unity, even within churches, it can be difficult to allow for a healthy amount of difference, while still keeping the church united. How do you find a good balance between unity and diversity? 

Cardinal Kurt Koch

In the Catholic Church, we have a good balance: the diversity of local churches and the unity of the Universal Church. In this sense, unity and diversity, multiplicity, do not work against each other, but help one another. And we have looked at ecumenical engagement in this light, as well. But that means not that we have “Uniatisme,” but we respect and acknowledge the different diversities in the other churches, as long as they are reconciling issues, not separating one.  

Andreas Thonhauser 

Very soon, the Holy Father will travel to Congo and to South Sudan. How do we find unity there? In South Sudan, for instance, there has been a long civil war – Christians fighting against Christians. 

Cardinal Kurt Koch

This is a very difficult situation. We have many is civil wars in this region: in Congo, also in South Sudan. But we also have the common work for reconciliation between the Catholic Church, and the Anglican World Communion, and the Presbyterian Church in England. This apostolic visit of the Holy Father in South Sudan will be a common pilgrimage between the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the president of the Presbyterian Church in England, and the Pope, because all these churches work reconciliation in this country. And this is a very beautiful example for the future: all the churches working together for peace in this very difficult situation. 

Andreas Thonhauser 

What would you say is the status right now of unity between the Orthodox churches and the Catholic Church? Have the relations improved or has it become more difficult? 

Cardinal Kurt Koch

They have become much more difficult because there are many tensions and divisions in the Orthodox world, but with the dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, we want to rediscover unity. But these tensions in the Orthodox world make it difficult. For instance, we have an international and mixed commission between the Catholic Church and all the Orthodox churches, but the Russian Orthodox Church doesn’t participate in this dialogue. And this makes dialogue challenging. 

We had planned for the Holy Father to meet the Russian Orthodox Patriarch in Jerusalem, this past June, but it was impossible, because we have a very different vision of the war. But we must keep the door open for dialogue. 

Andreas Thonhauser 

What will you personally pray for in this week of prayer for Christian Unity? 

Cardinal Kurt Koch 

Firstly, that we can find peace between the Christians in the Ukraine and in all countries. I think we have a very beautiful leitmotif for this week. It was taken from the Prophet Isaiah: “Do good and seek justice.”  And a beautiful fruit of justice is peace. “Opus iustitiae pax”: this was the leitmotif of the pontificate of Pius XII. And when we do not have justice in the world, we cannot have peace. 

Andreas Thonhauser

We are preparing already for the Synod on Synodality here in Rome in October. What role will other Christian denominations play in this process, if any? 

Cardinal Kurt Koch 

I can mention two examples. First of all, just last year, the General Secretary of the Bishop’s Synod, Cardinal Grech, and I wrote a letter to all the bishop’s conferences encouraging them to invite all the other churches to be present in this dialogue, in this synodality, because we can learn something about synodality from other churches. 

And, another example, here, in the Angelicum University, we have some symposiums about synodality. Last November and December, we had a symposium titled, “Listening to the East,” to discuss synodality in the Oriental Orthodox churches, the Assyrian Church: their vision and the practices of synodality. And at the end of next week, we begin with the meaning and implementation of synodality in the Occidental, the Western churches. 

And this will, hopefully, allow us to learn more and to deepen the synodality in the Catholic Church. 

Andreas Thonhauser 

Your Eminence, thank you very much for your time and for sharing your thoughts with us. 

Cardinal Kurt Koch 

Thank you. And I hope that all will pray for unity between all people.