Catholic, Lutheran leaders invite Pope Francis to Germany

February 07, 2017

Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, the president of the German Bishops’ Conference, welcomed Pope Francis’s statement on February 6 that the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation is an “opportunity to take a further step” in ecumenism.

“Today’s meeting gives ecumenism a new impetus,” said Cardinal Marx, who joined the head of the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church in Germany, Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, at the meeting with Pope Francis.

“We have a special responsibility for ecumenism,” Cardinal Marx added. “Especially from the country where the separation began, further impulses should emerge in order to achieve complete reconciliation.”

The prelate said that he and Bishop Bedford-Strohm jointly invited Pope Francis to visit Germany.

 

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Further information:

• Kardinal Marx und Landesbischof Bedford-Strohm sprechen mit Papst Franziskus (DBK)
• Reformation anniversary is ‘opportunity to take a further step,’ Pope tells German ecumenical group (CWN, 2/6)