"Reply to the Pope"

In their chalet headquarters at Geneva last week, 14 top leaders of the World Council of Churches met for one of the most exciting meetings in the council's ten-year history. Cause of the stir: Pope John's dramatic announcement of an ecumenical council in 1961 or 1962 (TIME, Feb. 9), which will examine the question of Christian unity and may well include Protestant observers. The problem before the council: On what terms can other Christians meet with Roman Catholicism in the face of its insistence that it is the only true Christian church?

For five days behind closed doors, the World Council's executive committee warmly debated "a reply to the Pope." It turned out to be a cautious document, expressing interest in the proposed meeting but stressing lack of information. "The question is how ecumenical will the council be in composition and in spirit?" The committee advanced its own version of ecumenical cooperation: "Progress toward unity is made when churches meet together on the basis of mutual respect and with a full commitment on the part of each church to the truth of the Gospel, to charity and to a faithful interpretation of its deepest convictions."

New Unity. The executive committee proposed that "fruitful first steps" should be "in actual cooperation among churches in working for a responsible society . . . and efforts to secure religious liberty for all people in every land." Examples: unity against anti-Christian forces, collaboration in aiding refugees and underdeveloped countries--practical work that might thrive despite deep dogmatic differences.

Geneva corridor talk brought some sharp if still baffled evaluation of the Pope's motives in calling the Rome meeting. Germany's Evangelical Bishop Otto Dibelius hopefully felt that the Pope might be acknowledging the World Council's strength (171 Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox churches in 53 countries, with a combined membership of close to 350 million, compared to an estimated 496 million Roman Catholics). Martin Niemoeller, outspoken German pacifist, envisioned a papal effort "to wean away the Eastern Orthodox churches from the World Council. I do not think this will work. The council has more practical experience in modern inter-church cooperation than the Vatican. But perhaps the Orthodox churches could serve as a bridge, helping the Vatican to break through its traditional isolation."

A Chance to Explain. Said U.S. Lutheran Leader Dr. Franklin Clark Fry, chairman of the Geneva meeting: "Any church living in isolation tends to overemphasize what it believes to be the truth. They need the opportunity to explain their views to others."

At least one high-ranking Roman Catholic priest seemed to agree. At a World Council reception in Geneva, he commented: "Let us all pray that God will give the Holy Father the strength to break through the opposition of the Curia. One must not forget that these cardinals in their ivory Vatican tower have never seen Protestants, and feel no need for contacts with something that to them does not exist. The Pope is a man of great experience. Let us hope he can make the weight of his enlightened judgment felt."

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