La genesi di un ecumenista: la corrispondenza tra Augustin Bea e il vescovo di Paderborn Lorenz Jaeger (1951-1960)

Throughout the pontificate of Pius XII, Augustin Bea, who was Holy Office’s consultant and Pacelli’s confessor, served as a link between Rome and the circles of Catholic ecumenism, above all the German ones, but also those in the Swiss, Austrian, French and Dutch milieux. This study provides a reconstruction of the evolution of his “ecumenical conversion”, focusing on the correspondence between Bea and Lorenz Jaeger, bishop of Paderborn and referent for the ecumenical questions at the Bishops’ Conference of Fulda. It was Jaeger who chose Bea, among the many consultors of the Holy Office, as a contact man for ecumenical questions to be submitted to the Holy See, putting him at the crossroads of this network of contacts and relationships. Since 1951 it takes place the correspondence between the two men, whose reconstruction allows us to study the evolution of the ecumenical thought of the Jesuit and his attitude towards the question of individual conversions, the activities of the movement Una Sancta and the evolution of the World Council of Churches. The essay ends by reconstructing the origin of the proposed establishment of the Secretariat for Christian Unity, proposal drawn precisely by Jaeger and Bea jointly.