The heads of the global Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches apologised for past divisions and pledged to deepen the relationship between the two denominations at a joint service held in the Swedish city of Lund, marking the start of a year of commemorations leading up to the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation next year.
Pope Francis joined with Bishop Munib Younan and Rev Dr Martin Junge, president and general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, at the service in Lund Cathedral on Monday, 31st October. The LWF was founded in Lund in 1947.
Pope Francis told those gathered – who also included King Karl XVI Gustav of Sweden, Queen Silvia of Sweden and Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven – that as Catholics and Lutherans, “we have undertaken a common journey of reconciliation”. “Now, in the context of the commemoration of the Reformation of 1517, we have a new opportunity to accept a common path, one that has taken shape over the past fifty years in the ecumenical dialogue between the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church”.
The Pope said Catholics and Lutherans should not be resigned to “the division and distance that our separation has created between us” but said that instead there is an opportunity “to mend a critical moment of our history by moving beyond the controversies and disagreements that have often prevented us from understanding one another”.
“Certainly, our separation has been an immense source of suffering and misunderstanding, yet it has also led us to recognize honestly that without him we can do nothing; in this way it has enabled us to understand better some aspects of our faith,” he said, adding: “With gratitude we acknowledge that the Reformation helped give greater centrality to sacred Scripture in the church’s life.”
Rev Junge urged Catholics and Lutherans “to move away from a past overshadowed by conflict and division and to walk the paths of communion”. He said more unites Catholics and Lutherans than divides them. “We are one in baptism. This is why we are here at this joint commemoration: to rediscover who we are in Christ.”
Pope Francis and Bishop Younan, who is also head of Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, later signed a joint statement committing Catholics and Lutherans to deepen their communion and common witness for justice.
“While the past cannot be changed, what is remembered and how it is remembered can be transformed,” it stated. “We pray for the healing of our wounds and of the memories that cloud our view of one another. We emphatically reject all hatred and violence, past and present, especially that expressed in the name of religion.”
The statement called upon all Lutheran and Catholic parishes and communities “to be bold and creative, joyful and hopeful in their commitment to continue the great journey ahead of us”. “Rather than conflicts of the past, God’s gift of unity among us shall guide cooperation and deepen our solidarity.”
A public event was subsequently held at the nearby Malmö Arena where Maria Immonen, the Lutheran World Service director, and Michel Roy, Caritas Internationalis secretary general, signed a declaration committing the organisations to deepened relationships and closer cooperation in humanitarian response and sustainable development.
