Let us focus on Christ and return to the faith of the Church Fathers, Pope tells Lutheran delegation

October 02, 2026

In an audience with a delegation from the Lutheran World Federation, Pope Leo XIV issued an “appeal to all believers, and especially theologians, to set their minds on Christ and his Gospel.”

“Let us return, with deep devotion, to our common roots, to the faith of the early Church and the Church Fathers, in order to rediscover the apostolic and pre-confessional heritage which truly unites us as brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters in Christ,” Pope Leo said on October 1.

“Christ must not become a ‘foreign word’ in our world,” the Pope added. “Our world needs ecumenical witnesses to Christ who make him known through their lives and actions, for Christ alone is the living source capable of fulfilling humanity’s deepest longings.”

The president of the Lutheran World Federation, Danish prelate Henrik Stubkjær, called for a joint Catholic-Lutheran commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession in 2030. Pope Leo also discussed the Augsburg Confession in his address:

On our common journey from conflict to communion, there are special moments. As you have mentioned, the year 2030, which marks the 500th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession, can become one such shared moment: a profound ecumenical experience that can give new energy and joy to the steps we will take towards full, visible unity.

When the Confessio Augustana was read out in Augsburg on 25 June 1530, the unity of the Western Church was imperiled but not yet shattered. The authors of the Augsburg Confession—as my predecessor Saint John Paul II put it—had the “intention of bearing witness to their faith in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.”.

The Augsburg Confession was originally intended as a document of reconciliation within the Church. Only later did it come to be understood as a text of divisive confessionalization. Looking forward to 2030, it would be good if we could once again succeed in affirming together the pre-confessional ecumenical potential of the Confessio Augustana.

 

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Further information:

• To the Delegation of the Lutheran World Federation (Dicastery for Communication - Vatican Media, 10/1/26)
• Audience with Representatives of the Lutheran World Federation (Holy See Press Office, 10/1/26)
• ‘From conflict to communion’: Lutheran World Federation meets with Pope (Vatican News, 10/1/26)
• Telling a different story of renewing Lutheran-Catholic communion (Lutheran World Federation, 10/1/26)