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1. The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the
principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council. Christ the Lord
founded one Church and one Church only. However, many Christian
communions present themselves to men as the true inheritors of Jesus
Christ; all indeed profess to be followers of the Lord but differ in
mind and go their different ways, as if Christ Himself were
divided.[1] Such division openly contradicts the will of Christ,
scandalizes the world, and damages the holy cause of preaching the
Gospel to every creature.
But the Lord of Ages wisely and patiently follows out the plan of
grace on our behalf, sinners that we are. In recent times more than
ever before, He has been rousing divided Christians to remorse over
their divisions and to a longing for unity. Everywhere large numbers
have felt the impulse of this grace, and among our separated brethren
also there increases from day to day the movement, fostered by the
grace of the Holy Spirit, for the restoration of unity among all
Christians. This movement toward unity is called "ecumenical."
Those belong to it who invoke the Triune God and confess Jesus as
Lord and Savior, doing this not merely as individuals but also as
corporate bodies. For almost everyone regards the body in which he has
heard the Gospel as his Church and indeed, God's Church. All
however, though in different ways, long for the one visible Church of
God, a Church truly universal and set forth into the world that the
world may be converted to the Gospel and so be saved, to the glory of
God.
The Sacred Council gladly notes all this. It has already declared
its teaching on the Church, and now, moved by a desire for the
restoration of unity among all the followers of Christ, it wishes to
set before all Catholics the ways and means by which they too can
respond to this grace and to this divine call.
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