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Coordinates: 41°53′56.6″N12°28′19.9″E / 41.899056°N 12.472194°E
Centro Pro Unione is a ministry of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, a Franciscan Anglican community founded in 1898 by Fr. Paul Wattson, SA, Servant of God, and M. Lurana White, SA, and welcomed into full communion with the Church of Rome in 1909 by St. Pius X. Among the charisms of the Congregation of the Atonement is the promotion of unity among all Christians. The Centro Pro Unione, fulfills this particular vocation.
The roots of the Centro go back at least to 1948, when the friars began collaborating with the ecumenical magazine “Unitas”, founded by the Jesuit P. Carlo Boyer and based in the convent of St. Brigida in p.zza Farnese in Rome. Between 1950 and 1960 a collaboration was developed with the Ladies of Bethany and the Foyer Unitas, for the welcoming of Orthodox and Protestant visitors to Rome. The Prayer Association “Pro Unione” (Lega di preghiera), conceived by Fr. Paul Wattson, was formed and directed by Fr. Celestine Leahy. The League provided the Italian translation, the printing and the dissemination of the texts for the “Week of Prayer for the Christian Unity”, which is celebrated every year from 18 to 25 January in the Northern hemisphere. In 1962, Princess Orietta Doria Pamphilj and her husband, Commander Frank Pogson, invited Foyer Unitas, the International Association Unitas and the League of Prayer “Pro Unione” to move to Pamphilj Palace in p.zza Navona. From that moment on, the noble dwelling became a center of ecumenical meeting, especially in the years of the Second Vatican Council. In 1968 the Friars ceased the English edition of the magazine “Unitas” and founded the Centro Pro Unione, which became a place of meeting, study, research and ecumenical dialogue and formation. The Centre began to coordinate, with other Italian ecumenical centers, the Italian edition of the “Week of Prayer for the Christian Unity”. In 1969 the Centro was officially inaugurated by the card. Johannes Willebrands. The Centro Pro Unione, to date, has a library specializing in the field of ecumenism, continues its work to promote ecumenical dialogue, through meetings and conferences and by maintaining an up-to-date documentation on the official theological dialogue, and continues to coordinate and disseminate the material useful for the yearly celebration of the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity”.
Coordinates: 41°53′56.6″N12°28′19.9″E / 41.899056°N 12.472194°E
Ecumenism, also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle in which Christians who belong to different Christian denominations work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjective ecumenical is thus applied to any interdenominational initiative that encourages greater cooperation between Christians and their churches.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is an ecumenical Christian observance in the Christian calendar that is celebrated internationally. It is kept annually between Ascension Day and Pentecost in the Southern Hemisphere and between 18 January and 25 January in the Northern Hemisphere. It is an octave, that is, an observance lasting eight days.
The Society of the Atonement, also known as the Friars and Sisters of the Atonement or Graymoor Friars and Sisters is a Franciscan religious congregation in the Latin Rite branch of the Catholic Church. The friars and sisters were founded in 1898 as a religious community in the Episcopal Church. The religious order is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the Marian title of Our Lady of Atonement.
The Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) is an organization created in 1969 which seeks to make ecumenical progress between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. The sponsors are the Anglican Consultative Council and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Catholic–Lutheran dialogue is a series of discussions which began during July 1964 as an outgrowth of the Second Vatican Council. These gatherings reflect the new openness of the Roman Catholic Church to dialogue with other Christian denominations as well as other religions. These dialogues have been primarily between by church representatives of the Lutheran World Federation and representatives of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Anglican Papalism, also referred to as Anglo-Papalism, is a subset of Anglo-Catholicism with adherents manifesting a particularly high degree of influence from, and even identification with, the Roman Catholic Church. This position has historically been referred to as Anglican Papalism; the term Anglo-Papalism is an American neologism and it seems not to have appeared in print prior to the 1990s. Anglican Papalists have suggested "that the only way to convert England is by means of an 'English Uniate' rite." Anglican Papalists have historically practiced praying the Dominican rosary, among other Marian devotions, Corpus Christi procession, as well as the reservation of and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
The Catholic Church has engaged in the modern ecumenical movement especially since the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the issuing of the decree Unitatis redintegratio and the declaration Dignitatis humanae. It was at the Council that the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity was created. Before that time, those outside of the Catholic Church were categorised as heretics or schismatics.
Paul Irénée Couturier was a French priest and a promoter of the concept of Christian unity. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Michael Seed is a Latin Rite Catholic priest, a Franciscan friar, author, and former ecumenical advisor for over twenty-five years to the former archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Basil Hume then to Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. Seed is known for his involvement in helping several British celebrities, politicians, and a member of the Royal Family to decide whether to convert to Catholicism.
Unitas: the Catholic League for the Unity of Christians is an organisation founded in the Church of England and dedicated to the full visible reconciliation of Anglicans and Roman Catholics as one Church. It is associated with the Anglo-Papalist wing of Anglo-Catholicism, from which its founders were drawn. Today, and especially since the formation of Personal ordinariates, the League is ecumenical in membership.
The Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church was established by the Holy See and 14 autocephalous Orthodox churches.
The Faith and Order Commission is an assembly group within the World Council of Churches founded in 1948 which has made numerous and significant contributions to the ecumenical movement.
Fr. Simpliciano of the Nativity was a Franciscan and the founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Hearts (SFSC/FSSH) in Santa Balbina, Rome, Italy.
The Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas is a Catholic educational institution providing an international community and formation for lay ecclesial ministers and other lay students at the Pontifical Universities, Athenae, and Institutes in Rome, Italy. It is international in character and composition, and welcomes ecumenical students from other Christian churches and ecclesial communities, as well as those from non-Christian religions.
The Graduate Theological Foundation (GTF) is an American nonprofit interreligious institution of higher learning, originally founded in Indiana but now centered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Unlike traditional residential theological schools, the foundation focuses on continuing educational opportunities for practicing ministry professionals, administrators and academics who want to pursue advanced degrees while retaining their current position. Students and faculty reside around the world, and scholarly work takes place through onsite, online and distance learning engagement. Students are eligible to earn bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees in a variety of theological disciplines. Faculty members come from a broad spectrum of faith backgrounds, and many also serve on the faculty of established colleges and universities, including the University of Oxford, with which the foundation has a continuing education affiliation through the Oxford Theology Summer School.
The John Paul II Center for Interreligious Dialogue is an academic center that serves to build bridges between religious traditions, particularly between Catholic Christian and Jewish pastoral and academic leaders. The Center is a partnership between the Russell Berrie Foundation and the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum). It operates as part of the Section for Ecumenism and Dialogue in the Theology Faculty of the Angelicum in Rome.
The Franciscan Action Network (FAN) is a faith-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in Washington DC composed of Franciscan sisters, friars, secular Franciscans, and others. The organization was created to address issues regarding ecology, human rights, poverty, and general peacemaking in the United States.
Giacomo Bini was a Franciscan priest. Ordained in 1964, he worked as a missionary in Africa, and was appointed Minister General of the Order of the Friars Minor (OFM) for the period 1997–2003. He was fluent in Italian, French, English, Spanish, and Kiswahili.
Tantur Ecumenical Institute is an international ecumenical institute for advanced theological research in Jerusalem.
Donald Joseph Bolen, also known as Don Bolen, is a Canadian Roman Catholic prelate. He is the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Regina, since his appointment by Pope Francis on 11 July 2016; having previously served as Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon. Archbishop Bolen was born in Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan, in 1961, the son of Joseph and Rose. He was ordained a priest in 1991 for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Regina, and was consecrated as a bishop on 25 March 2010 for the Diocese of Saskatoon.