[18] As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. [19] And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth. [20] "I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, [21] so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. [22] And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, [23] I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.
(CCC 820) "Christ bestowed unity on his Church from the beginning. This unity, we believe, subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time" (UR 4 § 3). Christ always gives his Church the gift of unity, but the Church must always pray and work to maintain, reinforce, and perfect the unity that Christ wills for her. This is why Jesus himself prayed at the hour of his Passion, and does not cease praying to his Father, for the unity of his disciples: "That they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be one in us, . . . so that the world may know that you have sent me" (Jn 17:21; cf. Heb 7:25). The desire to recover the unity of all Christians is a gift of Christ and a call of the Holy Spirit (Cf. UR 1). (CCC 822) Concern for achieving unity "involves the whole Church, faithful and clergy alike" (UR 5). But we must realize "that this holy objective - the reconciliation of all Christians in the unity of the one and only Church of Christ - transcends human powers and gifts." That is why we place all our hope "in the prayer of Christ for the Church, in the love of the Father for us, and in the power of the Holy Spirit" (UR 24 § 2).
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