By Walter Sánchez Silva
Lima Newsroom, May 30, 2025 / 16:53 pm
Pope Leo XIV encouraged the Anabaptist (Mennonite) movement to live with love the call to Christian unity and the mandate to serve others.
The Holy Father made the statement in a message published May 29 by the Vatican and sent to participants commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Anabaptist movement in Zurich, Switzerland.
At the beginning of his message, Pope Leo emphasized that “by receiving the Lord’s peace and accepting his call, which includes being open to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, all the followers of Jesus can immerse themselves in the radical newness of Christian faith and life. Indeed, such a desire for renewal characterizes the Anabaptist movement itself.”
“The motto chosen for your celebration, ‘The Courage to Love,’ reminds us, above all, of the need for Catholics and Mennonites to make every effort to live out the commandment of love, the call to Christian unity, and the mandate to serve others,” Leo XIV emphasized.
Likewise, the pontiff’s text continues, the motto “points to the need for honesty and kindness in reflecting on our common history, which includes painful wounds and narratives that affect Catholic-Mennonite relationships and perceptions up to the present day.”
“How important, then, is that purification of memories and common re-reading of history that can enable us to heal past wounds and build a new future through the ‘courage to love,’” he pointed out.
“What is more, only in such a way can theological and pastoral dialogue bear fruit, fruit that will last.
