1 Author Name Here SL 45 (2015) 1-15 The Formularies “Pro unitate Christianorum” in the 2002 Missale Romanum INNOCENT SMITH* “[C]hange of heart and holiness of life, along with public and private prayer for the unity of Christians, should be regarded as the soul of the whole ecumenical movement, and merits the name ‘spiritual ecumenism’.” 1 W ith these words, the Decree on Ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council highlighted the importance of liturgical prayer for the unity of Christians and for the unity of the Church. 2 Although Christians already rejoice in being united in a certain way by the shared gif of baptism, 3 we are nevertheless called under the inspiring grace of the Holy Spirit to make eforts in prayer, word, and action to attain that fullness of visible unity that Jesus Christ desires for his one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church. 4 Te unity of the church is ultimately a gif * Innocent Smith, o.p., received the License in Sacred Teology (S.T.L.) from the Pontifcal Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, USA, where he focused on liturgy and historical theology. 1 Second Vatican Council, Decree on ecumenism Unitatis redintegratio (21 November 1964), §8, in Norman P. Tanner, ed., Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 2 vols. (London; Washington, DC: Sheed & Ward; Georgetown University Press, 1990), 913*. Henceforth: UR. 2 UR 8 proceeds with the observation that “It is a recognized custom for Catholics to have frequent recourse to that prayer for the unity of the church in which the Savior himself on the eve of his death so fervently appealed to his Father, ‘that they may all be one’ (Jn 17, 21).” (Tanner, 913*, emphasis added). [NOTE: In “lef-to-right” language books (such as English, French, German, etc.), the Tanner edition of the ecumenical councils has regular pagination for the verso (“lef” side) page for original language texts, and adds an asterisk (*) to the pagination for the English translation for the recto (“right” side) page] 3 Cf. UR 3: “[A]ll who have been justifed by faith in baptism are members of Christ’s body, and have a right to be called Christians, and so are deservedly recognized as sisters and brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church.” (Tanner, 910*). 4 Cf. UR 4.