Pope Francis meets with German Lutheran leader

April 10, 2013

Pope Francis has received Rev. Nikolaus Schneider, the president of the council of the Evangelical Church in Germany, in audience.

During the meeting, Schneider expressed his concern about recent flooding in Argentina and discussed the upcoming 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. According to a Vatican Radio report, Pope Francis “took the opportunity to remind [Schneider] of the words of Pope Benedict XVI in Erfurt, where Martin Luther lived and worked, which have a particular ecumenical significance.”

The two also discussed “the ecumenism of the martyrs, to which the Pope gives particular weight, since the blood of the martyrs is something which profoundly unites the various Christian denominations in a common witness to Christ,” according to Vatican Radio.

 

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Further information:

• Pope Francis meets head of German Evangelical Church (Vatican Radio)
• Pope Benedict XVI: Meeting with representatives of the German Evangelical Church Council in the Chapter Hall of the Augustinian Convent (Erfurt, 23 September 2011)
• Pope Benedict XVI: Ecumenical Celebration in the church of the Augustinian Convent (Erfurt, 23 September 2011)