Pope Francis has urged
Catholics and Lutherans to take decisive steps toward unity and “move
beyond” the controversies that have divided them.
But he offered no new
leads to the idea of sharing Communion before unity is achieved.
“We Christians will be credible witnesses of mercy to the extent that
forgiveness, renewal, and reconciliation are daily experienced in our
midst,” the Pope said yesterday during an ecumenical prayer service in
the Lutherans’ Lund cathedral in Scania, Sweden, which was built as a
Catholic cathedral in the 11th century.With the prayer service, Pope Francis and leaders of the Lutheran World Federation launched a year of activities to mark the 500th anniversary in 2017 of Martin Luther’s efforts to reform the Church.
For Pope Francis and the Vatican, Catholics are called to commemorate the event by focusing on concrete ways to express and strengthen the doctrinal agreements reached by Catholic and Lutheran theologians over the past 50 years.
The most appropriate way to mark the anniversary, they said, was with common prayer and renewed commitments to working together to help the poor and promote justice.
The Lutherans agree, but many also saw the joint commemoration as a moment to recognise that the joint agreements on issues of faith over the past 50 years mean it is appropriate now to expand occasions when Eucharistic sharing is possible.
The Catholic Church has insisted that regular sharing of the Eucharist will be possible only when divided Christians have attained full unity.
In his homily at the Lund cathedral, the Rev Martin Junge, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, expressed his hope for shared Communion sooner.
A joint statement signed in Lund by Pope Francis and Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan, president of the Lutheran World Federation, said: “Many members of our communities yearn to receive the Eucharist at one table as the concrete expression of full unity.”