Holy Father Francis encouraged members of the Ecumenical Council of Churches in Slovakia to continue on the ecumenical path, in his speech at the Apostolic Nunciature in Bratislava on Sunday - the first day of his four day visit to Slovakia. He called the ecumenical path a precious treasure that should not be given up.
In his address, the Holy Father said that the journey of their communities began again after years of atheistic persecution, when religious freedom was denied or severely tested. "Now you are united by the section of the path where you're trying to see how beautiful, but at the same time how difficult, it is to live the faith of freedom. There is a temptation to become slaves once more, certainly not of the regime but of an even worse slavery, and that is internal slavery," noted the pope, stressing that they need to help each other.
"What sets us free is the truth of the gospel, or do we feel free when we acquire comfortable zones that allow us to manage our lives and move forward peacefully without negative feedback?" asked the pope.
