Lutheran leaders emphasize ‘quest for unity’ with Catholic Church

February 09, 2016

The leaders of the Lutheran World Federation have issued a statement welcoming Pope Francis’s upcoming trip to Sweden to commemorate the anniversary of the Reformation.

“It is historic that Catholics and Lutherans are commemorating the anniversary of the Reformation together in October 2016,” Martin Junge, the federation’s general secretary, said in a statement published on February 4. “In Lund we come together to give thanks for the gifts of the Reformation and our 50 years of dialogue together, repent for the human suffering and disunity of the church that followed the Reformation, and commit to joint witness in the world.”

He added:

We are committed to take a step towards unity. We are seeking openness and encouragement to overcome the differences in practice and doctrine that still remain and move forward with the conviction that they can be overcome …

When we speak of unity we also speak of reconciliation, of being convinced that it is possible to overcome fragmentation and that we can and will learn from each other. We believe it is possible to heal memories and we need to do so in order for us to jointly serve our wounded and fragmented world.

“We know very well that Lutheran churches around the world are at different stages when it comes to how they live and experience their relationship with the Catholic Church and the same applies for Catholic churches on the ground,” said Bishop Munib Younan, the federation’s president. “Yet, knowing these realities, we want to emphasize the quest of our unity—leaving conflict behind and working towards communion.”

 

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Further information:

• ‘What unites us is stronger than what divides us’ (The Lutheran World Federation)
• Pope to travel to Sweden to commemorate Reformation’s anniversary (CWN, 1/25)