“We are one! We already are! Let us recognize it, experience it and make it visible!” – Pope Leo XIV from his homily on 25 January 2026 at the close of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

In the passage from the Letter to the Ephesians chosen as the theme for this year’s Week of Prayer, we repeatedly hear the adjective “one”: one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God (cf. Eph 4:4-6). Dear brothers and sisters, how can these inspired words not touch us deeply? How can our hearts not burn within us when we hear them? Yes, “we share the same faith in the one and only God, the Father of all people; we confess together the one Lord and true Son of God, Jesus Christ, and the one Holy Spirit, who inspires us and impels us towards full unity and the common witness to the Gospel” (Apostolic Letter In Unitate Fidei, 23 November 2025, 12). We are one! We already are! Let us recognize it, experience it and make it visible!

– Pope Leo XIV from his homily on 25 January 2026

On Sunday representatives from different churches prayed together for unity, witnessing to their common baptism and spiritual communion already shared in Christ, at the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. Rev. Matthew A. Laferty, director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome, participated in the Vespers representing the worldwide Methodist family.

Photo above: Pope Leo met Director Laferty before the Vespers on 25 January 2026 along with several other church representatives. Photo © Vatican Media