Pope expresses concern over tensions on the Baltic Sea

by CNS · January 20, 2023

Lutheran Bishop Kaisamari Hintikka of Espoo, Finland, presents a book to Pope Francis during a meeting with an ecumenical delegation from Finland Jan. 19, 2023, in the library of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

By Justin McLellan, CNS – The Baltic Sea, shared by Russia and northern European countries, is a “source of life threatened by human action,” Pope Francis said.

Speaking to an ecumenical delegation from Finland on Jan. 19, the pope said the body of water that separates Russia and Finland and connects Russian trade routes to the European continent was “painfully affected by the climate of conflict caused by the fierce senselessness of war.”

Lutheran Bishop Kaisamari Hintikka of Espoo, Finland, greeted the pope to begin their meeting and referred to the image of the Baltic Sea, prompting the pope’s remarks.

“War is always a defeat,” said the pope. “Always.”

Finland and Sweden both applied to join NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and have participated in military exercises with NATO countries on the Baltic Sea, raising tensions with Russia.

The Finnish delegation, composed of Lutheran, Orthodox, Catholic and Methodist representatives, travelled to Rome as part of an ecumenical pilgrimage in honour of St. Henrik, an English-born bishop who was martyred in Finland in the 12th century.

Pope Francis told them that Christians must develop “an ardent zeal for evangelisation” in order to overcome the historical wounds that have divided Christian churches.

“By proclaiming (the Gospel) together we rediscover ourselves as brothers and sisters” and bear witness to “the beauty of unity,” the pope told the delegation.

Pope Francis poses for a photo with an ecumenical delegation from Finland during a meeting Jan. 19, 2023, in the library of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican. Lutheran Bishop Kaisamari Hintikka, to the left of the pope, led the delegation. Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, is to the right of the pope. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

The sacrament of baptism, shared by Christians, reconciles an individual with God, he said, and in the same way, “we are called to be more and more reconciled with one another and to be agents of reconciliation in the world.”

Pope Francis encouraged the representatives to “nurture a true passion” for overcoming their divisions and said that merely knowing the value of Christian unity “is not enough.”

The delegation travelled to the Vatican during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which is celebrated annually from Jan. 18-25. This year’s theme comes from the Book of Isaiah: “Do good; seek justice.”

Those words, the pope explained, call on Christians “to practice concrete acts of solidarity to those who are victims of injustice, rejection, various forms of oppression and, above all, war.”