Meeting to prepare materials for 2024 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

From 25 to 29 September, an international committee jointly sponsored by the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches met in Rome, at Casa San Giuseppe di Cluny, which, since 2016, has been administered by the Chemin Neuf Community (CCN), whose members make a special commitment to Christian unity.

The materials for the 2024 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity were drafted by an ecumenical team from Burkina Faso facilitated by the local Chemin Neuf Community on the theme “You shall love the Lord your God ... and your neighbour as yourself” (Luke 10:27). Brothers and sisters from the Catholic Archdiocese of Ouagadougou, Protestant Churches, ecumenical bodies and the CCN in Burkina Faso collaborated generously in drafting the prayers and reflections, experiencing their work together as a real path of ecumenical conversion.

Burkina Faso is currently experiencing a serious security crisis and considerable political instability. The invitation to work together on the texts for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2024 challenged the different churches in Burkina Faso to walk, pray and work together in mutual love during this difficult period for their country. In doing so, they recognised that the love of Christ that unites all Christians is stronger than their divisions.

Unfortunately, the four members of the local group who were expected to take part in the meeting in Rome were unable to attend in‒person due to a strike of flight controllers in Africa but were connected via zoom.

The meeting was chaired jointly by the World Council of Churches programme executive for Spiritual Life and for Faith and Order, Revd Dr Mikie Roberts, and Fr Anthony Currer from the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.

Participants in international committee

Participants from Burkina Faso unable to attend in-person

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