Cardinal Walter Kasper assured that Pope Leo XIV, on his first international visit to Turkey and Lebanon, wants to send a clear signal: the search for peace and unity among Christians and among believers of different religions. In an interview published by the theological magazine Communio, the cardinal stated that the Pope's presence in Nicaea, on the occasion of the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council, has a strong theological and historical significance.
It is particularly striking that Kasper speaks out in this context. The 91-year-old German theologian, former president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and a reference figure in ecclesiastical progressivism, has maintained an increasingly reserved public profile in recent years. He barely intervenes in current debates from his retirement in Germany. That he has decided to break this silence to speak precisely about the first international trip of Pope Leo XIV underscores, in itself, the importance he attributes to this visit and its message of unity and peace.
According to Kasper, the trip can be summarized under the motto In unitate fidei (“In the unity of the faith”), the same title of the apostolic document that Leo XIV published last Sunday. The former ecumenism official recalled that Nicaea was, seventeen centuries ago, the place where East and West of the Roman Empire met to confess the faith in Christ together. Today —he warned— the world is once again going through tensions that threaten peace.
“Shalom – salam”: the Pope wants to build bridges
For Kasper, the pontiff's intention goes beyond dialogue between Christian Churches. The Nicene Creed begins by professing faith in one Creator God, a truth that, he emphasized, Jews and Muslims also share. “Shalom – salam: this is what we should say together and seek paths of peace with one another and among ourselves”, he stated.
The cardinal pointed out that Leo XIV arrives in Nicaea “as a sign and instrument of unity and peace for universal Christendom”, highlighting that the Nicene Creed is common heritage of all the Churches of the world and constitutes the shared doctrinal basis of Christianity.
A call to accompany the Pope in prayer
Kasper concluded by inviting the faithful to spiritually support the Pope on this historic trip:
“We want the Pope to bear witness to this unity in Christ with all Christian brothers, to celebrate it and pray for it. We must sustain him with our prayers”.