Fernand Portal, CM: A Pioneer of Today's Ecumenical Dialogue

Abbé Hemmer, in his 1947 book “M. Portal et l’Union des Eglises”, quotes an Anglican: “Cardinal Mercier (+1926) changed the religious atmosphere of England,” and he added: “Perhaps one should say about Fr. Portal CM (+1926) that he changed something in the religious atmosphere of the world.”
There were no limits to hopes.  Cardinal Mercier was also a believer in the summoning of a great ecumenical council in the near future! “There will be then, I hope, an opportunity to work for the union of the Churches,” Portal wrote on 10 January 1925.

Once again hope was premature.  Cardinal Mercier died on 23 January 1926, and Portal’s death followed in June.  Ecumenical dialogue was once again dimmed down to “pilot light.”  Before one of the dreams of Halifax and Portal would become real one would have to wait until the great event of Vatican II, the meetings between Pope Paul VI and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, and especially Pope John Paul II’s visit to England in 1982. 

For a more extensive account of this historical journey visit http://www.famvin.org/cm/curia/vincentiana/2001/2001-2-gurtner.html