Referring to the Second Vatican Council document “Unitatis redintegratio”, the Pope affirmed that baptism “establishes a sacramental bond of unity which links all who have been reborn by it.”
Above all, this shared baptism means that all are sinners and are in need of being saved, redeemed and freed from evil, he said.
When Christians say that they share one baptism, it’s an affirmation that all of them – Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox included – share the experience of being called from “unforgiving darkness and alienation from the encounter with the living God,” who is full of mercy.
Francis noted that despite our common roots, all Christians unfortunately experience egoism, which plants seeds of division, closure and contempt in our minds and hearts.
By restarting from our baptism, Christians again “plunge into the source of mercy and hope, from which no one is excluded,” he said.
This experience of shared grace creates “an indissoluble bond between us Christians, such that, by virtue of baptism, we can consider ourselves truly brothers,” he said, adding that the more we welcome this grace and mercy, the more we belong to the one, Holy People of God.
“We also become capable of announcing his marvelous works to all, beginning from a simple and fraternal witness of unity,” Francis observed.
He said a good way for all Christians to work together in this announcement is by performing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, which are “a concrete witness of unity among us Christians: Protestants, Orthodox and Catholics.” EWTN
And Jesus answered and said unto them,
Take heed that no man deceive you.
Matthew 24:5
