At the same time we do not have the spiritual authority to go out
on our own and command God to
bless us because we practice or perform communion,
baptism and marriage ceremonies.
The churches aren't quite ready to devise an abortion ritual, to be enacted in clinics and hospitals, that would call
on God to
bless this «holy» alternative to birth and
baptism.
Paul VI in his first sermon as Pope spoke to those «who without belonging to the Catholic Church are united to us by the powerful bond of faith and love of Jesus Christ and marked with the unique seal of
baptism — one Lord, one faith, one
baptism», seeking to «hasten the
blessed day which will see, after so many centuries of deadly separation, the realisation of Christ's prayer
on the eve of his death — ut unum sint, that they may be one...» 6