In the Bull of Indiction for the Jubilee 2025, Pope Francis noted the felicity of the coincidence of the Jubilee Year with the anniversarly of the Council of Nicaea:
The coming Jubilee Year will also coincide with a significant date for all Christians, namely, the 1700th anniversary of the celebration of the first great Ecumenical Council, that of Nicaea....
The Council of Nicaea sought to preserve the Church’s unity, which was seriously threatened by the denial of the full divinity of Jesus Christ and hence his consubstantiality with the Father. Some three hundred bishops took part, convoked at the behest of the Emperor Constantine; their first meeting took place in the Imperial Palace on 20 May 325. After various debates, by the grace of the Spirit they unanimously approved the Creed that we still recite each Sunday at the celebration of the Eucharist. The Council Fathers chose to begin that Creed by using for the first time the expression “ We believe”, as a sign that all the Churches were in communion and that all Christians professed the same faith.
This aspect of the Jubilee Year is being marked by Pope Leo XIV's visit to Turkiye, a visit that includes a celebration where the Council itself took place. In anticipation of that visit, Pope Leo published his Apsotolic Letter In Unitate Fidei, which explores the history and theology of the Nicene Creed. Recognising that the Creed is a lived statement of faith, Pope Leo also asks us to reflect on what the profession of the Nicene Creed means for those who recite it each Sunday at Mass (n.10 ff):
The path that began with Sacred Scripture and led to the profession of faith in Nicaea, subsequently accepted in Constantinople and Chalcedon, and again in the 16th and 21st centuries, has been a long and consistent one. All of us, as disciples of Jesus Christ, are baptized “in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” We make the sign of the cross on ourselves and we are blessed. We conclude each prayer of the psalms in the Liturgy of the Hours with “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.” Both the liturgy and the Christian life are thus firmly anchored in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed: what we profess with our mouths must come from the heart so that we may bear witness to it with our lives. We must therefore ask ourselves: What about our interior reception of the Creed today? Do we experience that it also affects our current situation? Do we understand and live out what we say every Sunday? What do these words mean for our lives?
In his address during the celebration at Iznik, Pope Leo XIV makes an interesting suggestion with regard to the ecumenical significance of the Christological affirmation of the Nicene Creed that seems to parallel Pope St John Paul II's suggestion (Ut Unum Sint n.84) that in martyrdom a fullness of communion in ecclesial life is already achieved. It is the citation of St Augustine that appears to give a strength to Pope Leo's words not dissimilar to those of Pope St John Paul II:
This Christological confession of faith is of fundamental importance in the journey that Christians are making towards full communion. For it is shared by all Christian Churches and Communities throughout the world, including those which, for various reasons, do not use the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed in their liturgies. Indeed, faith “in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages... consubstantial with the Father” (Nicene Creed) is a profound bond already uniting all Christians. In this sense, to quote Saint Augustine, in the ecumenical context we can also say that, “although we Christians are many, in the one Christ we are one” (Exposition on Psalm 127). Consequently, with an awareness that we are already linked by such a profound bond, we can continue our journey of ever deeper adherence to the Word of God revealed in Jesus Christ, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in mutual love and dialogue.
I have a particular affection for the profession of faith of Pope Paul VI offered at the closing of the Year of Faith in June 1968, a year that marked the 19th centenary of the martrydoms of St Peter and St Paul. That profession of faith is an extended exposition of the Nicene Creed, and is now known as the Credo of the People of God:
On this day which is chosen to close the Year of Faith, on this feast of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, we have wished to offer to the living God the homage of a profession of faith. And as once at Caesarea Philippi the apostle Peter spoke on behalf of the twelve to make a true confession, beyond human opinions, of Christ as Son of the living God, so today his humble successor, pastor of the Universal Church, raises his voice to give, on behalf of all the People of God, a firm witness to the divine Truth entrusted to the Church to be announced to all nations.
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