Text: Letter to Council From Non-Catholic Observers, Delegates

     This is the text of a letter sent by the non-Catholic observers and delegates to the ecumenical council Fathers, and read at the council session of Dec. 4 by Archbishop Pericle Felici, secretary general of the council.

On the occasion of the end of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council the observers and guests of the Secretariat for Christian Unity desire to express the feelings of gratitude with which they regard the worthy and most important events of which they have been witnesses.

They were invited so that in assisting in the work of the council they could know it more deeply and inform their Churches of it. They have always been received with exquisite cordiality. They have received innumerable proofs of esteem, of charity and of friendship. The dialogue, which is often spoken of, has not remained an empty or dead word. They have been offered repeated occasions for conversations and for personal consultations. Although both the council Fathers and the periti (official experts) have been absorbed by an overwhelming amount of work, they have always shown themselves willing to deepen their awareness of the convictions of the other Churches. The bonds and close personal friendships (formed) during these years have greatly enriched many of the observers and they will remain intact.

This is not the moment to speak about particular matters of the council or of results reached in these years. The observers at this moment desire to assure the council Fathers of one thing, that is, of having followed the labors of the council not only with the attention of disinterested spectators but with a sense of true participation.

In fact, what happens internally within one Church is of interest for all others. Notwithstanding divisions of the Churches they remain moreover united in the name of Christ. The observers are firmly convinced that the communion which has been achieved up to this moment can still grow and that it surely will grow.

In the first audience granted to the observers, Pope John XXIII spoke these words: “Let God be praised day by day.” These words can now be thus paraphrased: “Let God be praised by all that which, through mediation of His Spirit, He has given to us today and for that which He intends to give us in the future.”