1st meeting between Pope, Salvation Army leader
December 15, 2014
For the first time, a Pope has met with the leader of the Salvation Army, the Protestant group founded by William Booth in 1865.
“Catholics and Salvationists, together with other Christians, recognize that those in need have a special place in God’s heart, so much so that the Lord Jesus Christ himself became poor for our sake,” Pope Francis said in his address to André Cox, who was served as the Salvation Army’s general since 2013.
“As a result, Catholics and Salvationists often meet in the same peripheries of society,” the Pope added. “It is my hope that our shared faith in Jesus Christ the Saviour, the one mediator between God and man, will become evermore the firm foundation of friendship and cooperation between us.”
“The differences between Catholics and Salvationists regarding theological and ecclesiological questions need not impede the witness of our shared love of God and love of neighbor, a love which is capable of inspiring a concerted commitment to restoring the dignity of those who live on the margins of society,” he added.
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