Welcoming an ecumenical delegation from Finland at the start of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Pope Francis remarked that “there have been times when the veneration of saints appeared to be a source of division rather than of unity.”
The Pontiff thanked Evangelical Lutheran Bishop Astrand for sepaking about “the witness of the saints and its broad ecumenical spirit.” He mentioned the shared veneration of “some of the great Nordic saints: Birgitta, Henrik, and Olav.”