Christian leaders join young people for Vatican prayer vigil

During the vigil, which featured Taizé worship songs and prayers in many different languages, Burghardt read the words from Ephesians which were at the heart of the recent LWF Thirteenth Assembly in Krakow, Poland: “There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called.”

As the sun set behind St Peter’s Basilica, the religious leaders received seeds from the hands of young people, to symbolize the need for all churches to plant and nurture seeds of reconciliation and unity among Christians. Pope Francis thanked participants for joining this moment of prayer and silent meditation, saying: “Let us walk together [….] so that the world may believe.”

Savanna Sullivan, LWF’s Program Executive for Youth, who accompanied a group of young people from different Lutheran churches, stressed the importance of encouraging a new generation of ecumenists to bring “bold and creative ideas to the search for unity within the Christian world.”

Thousands of young people from different Christian churches joined the religious leaders to pray for peace, justice, reconciliation and unity. The LWF youth delegation included representatives from churches in Norway, South Africa, Argentina and Brazil. They were hosted by families from local Catholic parishes in Rome and took part in a day of workshops focused on themes of dialogue and practical action to strengthen ecumenical and interreligious relationships.

Sofie Hopshaug-Bakke is a youth leader in the Church of Norway diocese of Nidaros where she works to build connections with people of different faiths and cultures, including the indigenous Sami people and members of the growing Muslim population. Pretty Mgube from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa is also a youth leader in her parish in Pietermaritzburg and hopes this Rome experience will help her to “grow as a person and as a Christian, understanding better my Lutheran identity.”

Cecilia Lopez from Argentina is currently helping to lead a volunteer program with the Evangelisches Missionswerk organization in Germany. In her home city of Buenos Aires, she has worked closely with Christians from different churches and backgrounds: “Ecumenism is a part of me,” she says. Bianca Berger and Isabela Müller from the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil are also volunteering in Germany and hope to take back their experiences of ecumenism in Europe to share with young people when they return to their home church.