Pope to travel to Sweden to commemorate Reformation’s anniversary
Posted By: January 25, 2016
— Fr. Sean Mc Manus
Catholic World News. January 25, 2016
The Holy See Press Office has announced that Pope Francis will travel to Lund, Sweden, on October 31 to take part in a joint Lutheran-Catholic ceremony commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.
Martin Luther made his 95 Theses public on October 31, 1517. The commemorative year begins a year earlier in Lund, the city where the Lutheran World Federation was founded.
“The LWF is approaching the Reformation anniversary in a spirit of ecumenical accountability,” says Martin Junge, the Lutheran World Federation’s general secretary. “I’m carried by the profound conviction that by working towards reconciliation between Lutherans and Catholics, we are working towards justice, peace and reconciliation in a world torn apart by conflict and violence.”
“By concentrating together on the centrality of the question of God and on a Christocentric approach, Lutherans and Catholics will have the possibility of an ecumenical commemoration of the Reformation, not simply in a pragmatic way, but in the deep sense of faith in the crucified and resurrected Christ,” said Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
“The ecumenical situation in our part of the world is unique and interesting,” added Bishop Anders Arborelius of Stockholm, a convert from Lutheranism to Catholicism who grew up in Lund. “I hope that this meeting will help us look to the future so that we can be witnesses of Jesus Christ and His Gospel in our secularized world.”
Catholic World News. January 25, 2016
The Holy See Press Office has announced that Pope Francis will travel to Lund, Sweden, on October 31 to take part in a joint Lutheran-Catholic ceremony commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.
Martin Luther made his 95 Theses public on October 31, 1517. The commemorative year begins a year earlier in Lund, the city where the Lutheran World Federation was founded.
“The LWF is approaching the Reformation anniversary in a spirit of ecumenical accountability,” says Martin Junge, the Lutheran World Federation’s general secretary. “I’m carried by the profound conviction that by working towards reconciliation between Lutherans and Catholics, we are working towards justice, peace and reconciliation in a world torn apart by conflict and violence.”
“By concentrating together on the centrality of the question of God and on a Christocentric approach, Lutherans and Catholics will have the possibility of an ecumenical commemoration of the Reformation, not simply in a pragmatic way, but in the deep sense of faith in the crucified and resurrected Christ,” said Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
“The ecumenical situation in our part of the world is unique and interesting,” added Bishop Anders Arborelius of Stockholm, a convert from Lutheranism to Catholicism who grew up in Lund. “I hope that this meeting will help us look to the future so that we can be witnesses of Jesus Christ and His Gospel in our secularized world.”
