The Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity has announced that the Minnesota Council of Churches has written the text of the reflections that will be used internationally for the 2023 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (background).

“The context from which these materials were first drafted is the aftermath of the extrajudicial killing of George Floyd and the trial of the police officer responsible for his death,” the Dicastery said in a statement. “As the Christian communities of Minnesota sought to respond to the anguish of these events, they also recognized their own historical complicity in perpetuating divisions which have contributed to racial injustice.”

“The Church is called to be the sign and instrument of the unity God desires for the whole of His creation (cf. Lumen gentium, 1) but the division between Christians weakens the Church’s effectiveness,” the Dicastery added. “Christians must repent of their divisions and work together in order to be a source of reconciliation and unity in the world.”