Fraternal visits and ecumenical presence

At the end of January, with great joy we welcomed cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, accompanied by bishop Erminio Descalzi. He himself explained the sense of his visit in the few words he addressed to us at the beginning of the midday prayer: “The Lord calls… ad convivendum et ad commoriendum, by now I see eternal life before me… I have come to greet you for the last time, to thank the Lord for this long friendship in his name. I rely on your prayers and your affection. I kiss you and I bless you.”

Early in May we welcomed the bishops’ conference of the Lutheran Church of Sweden with its primate, Anders Wejryd. Bishops Erik Aurelius of Skara, Sven Thidevall of Växjö, Hans Stiglund of Luleå, Thomas Söderberg of Västeras, Ragnar Persenius of Uppsala, Hans-Erik Nordin of Strängnäs, Caroline Krook of Stockholm, Antje Jacklén of Lund, Martin Lind of Linköping, Tony Guldbrandzén of Härnosand spent several days of retreat in Bose, during which they also had the chance to meet with our bishop, Gabriele Mana.

Among the other ecumenical visits during these months, we wish to recall the members of the Compagnie des pasteurs et diacres of Geneva and pastor Peter Haldorff, founder and guide of the community of Biarka-Säby (Sweden), who this year visited us with a large group of his co-nationals, among them Biörn Fjärstedt, retired bishop of Visby (Gotland) of the Swedish Lutheran Church.
In the week between Ascension and Pentecost we had with us about fifteen Russian Orthodox young adults of the Fraternity of the Transfiguration, led by fr Georgij Ko?etkov, with whom we have had fraternal ties for more than fifteen years. Their love for God’s word and their wise search to live the Christian faith in the modern world are also for us a precious testimony.

In this period a great witness of Christian faith passed from death to Life: Olivier Clément, French Orthodox theologian, with whom we had ties of friendship and profound esteem. He was twice in Bose, on the occasion of the international ecumenical conferences, and we have been reading with appreciation his many books for a long time. For this reason we have decided to republish in the near future one of his best books, Alle fonti con i padri.