The conclusion of the Council (1969)

At the end of the Ecumenical Council, La Pira wrote a letter to Paul VI re-reading the main aspects of decade of Church history in the light of the hypothesis of a progressive unification of the Church and nations:

(…) Unity of the Church and peace in the world: this is the Spring and Summer of the history of the Church and the world; this is what Pius XII (in the light of Fatima) saw and said, this is what John XXIII saw and said on the day of his election, this is what John XXIII intended doing (instinctu Spiritus Santi) setting up the Council.

This (…) is what Paul VI has done since his election, to the continuation of the Council, from the Encyclical of Dialogue (Ecclesiam suam) to his trips to Palestine, Bombay and New York (ONU) …

This is the light in which La Pira sets forth all his acts in previous years:

(…) Separate Churches of the East (Constantinople, Moscow, Alexandria, Jerusalem etc.) and the West (London, Geneva etc.; Israel, Islam; movement of "convergence", "unity". This is the driving force of what was accomplished in Florence in the period from 1957 to 1965!

He concludes with a daring proposal:

(…) At this point the question, the inevitable question arises: - why can’t Florence do for Beijing what it did for Moscow? (…) Can the experiments of yesterday not be a fruitful lesson for the experiments of tomorrow?