(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met with Sweden’s royal family on Monday, at the beginning of his visit to Malmo and Lund to participate in the start of a series of events that will culminate in a year’s time in the commemoration of the 500 th anniversary of the beginning of the Lutheran reform.
King Karl XVI Gustav and Queen Silvia of Sweden received the Holy Father at the king’s house in Lund, ahead of an ecumenical service in Lund’s Lutheran Cathedral.
The king and queen also attended the ecumenical service, which saw Pope Francis, Lutheran Bishop of Jordan and the Holy Land and President of the Lutheran World Federation, Munib Younan, and the Rev. Martin Junge, the General Secretary of the LWF jointly leading.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday urged Catholics and Lutherans to recognize past “errors” and seize “the opportunity to mend a critical moment of our history by moving beyond the controversies and disagreement that have often prevented us from understanding one another.” He said the division between Catholics and Lutherans was “perpetuated historically by the powerful of this world” rather than by the faithful people of God. The Pope was speaking during his homily at an ecumenical prayer service in the Lutheran Cathedral of Lund shortly after his arrival in Sweden for a 26-hour pastoral visit.
Please find below an English transcript of the Pope’s prepared homily during the prayer service:
“Abide in me as I abide in you” (Jn 15:4). These words, spoken by Jesus at the Last Supper, allow us to peer into the heart of Christ just before his ultimate sacrifice on the cross. We can feel his heart beating with love for us and his desire for the unity of all who believe in him. He tells us that he is the true vine and that we are the branches, that just as he is one with the Father, so we must be one with him if we wish to bear fruit.
Here in Lund, at this prayer service, we wish to manifest our shared desire to remain one with Christ, so that we may have life. We ask him, “Lord, help us by your grace to be more closely united to you and thus, together, to bear a more effective witness of faith, hope and love”. This is also a moment to thank God for the efforts of our many brothers and sisters from different ecclesial communities who refused to be resigned to division, but instead kept alive the hope of reconciliation among all who believe in the one Lord.
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. Nor can we be resigned to the division and distance that our separation has created between us. We have the 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.
Jesus tells us that the Father is the “vinedresser” (cf. v. 1) who tends and prunes the vine in order to make it bear more fruit (cf. v. 2). The Father is constantly concerned for our relationship with Jesus, to see if we are truly one with him (cf. v. 4). He watches over us, and his gaze of love inspires us to purify our past and to work in the present to bring about the future of unity that he so greatly desires.
We too must look with love and honesty at our past, recognizing error and seeking forgiveness, for God alone is our judge. We ought to recognize with the same honesty and love that our division distanced us from the primordial intuition of God’s people, who naturally yearn to be one, and that it was perpetuated historically by the powerful of this world rather than the faithful people, which always and everywhere needs to be guided surely and lovingly by its Good Shepherd. Certainly, there was a sincere will on the part of both sides to profess and uphold the true faith, but at the same time we realize that we closed in on ourselves out of fear or bias with regard to the faith which others profess with a different accent and language. As Pope John Paul II said, “We must not allow ourselves to be guided by the intention of setting ourselves up as judges of history but solely by the motive of understanding better what happened and of becoming messengers of truth” (Letter to Cardinal Johannes Willebrands, President of the Secretariat for Christian Unity, 31 October 1983). God is the vinedresser, who with immense love tends and protects the vine; let us be moved by his watchful gaze. The one thing he desires is for us to abide like living branches in his Son Jesus. With this new look at the past, we do not claim to realize an impracticable correction of what took place, but “to tell that history differently” (LUTHERAN-ROMAN CATHOLIC COMMISSION ON UNITY, From Conflict to Communion, 17 June 2013, 16).
Jesus reminds us: “Apart from me, you can do nothing” (v. 5). He is the one who sustains us and spurs us on to find ways to make our unity ever more visible. 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. With gratitude we acknowledge that the Reformation helped give greater centrality to sacred Scripture in the Church’s life. Through shared hearing of the word of God in the Scriptures, important steps forward have been taken in the dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation, whose fiftieth anniversary we are presently celebrating. Let us ask the Lord that his word may keep us united, for it is a source of nourishment and life; without its inspiration we can do nothing.
The spiritual experience of Martin Luther challenges us to remember that apart from God we can do nothing. “How can I get a propitious God?” This is the question that haunted Luther. In effect, the question of a just relationship with God is the decisive question for our lives. As we know, Luther encountered that propitious God in the Good News of Jesus, incarnate, dead and risen. With the concept “by grace alone”, he reminds us that God always takes the initiative, prior to any human response, even as he seeks to awaken that response. The doctrine of justification thus expresses the essence of human existence before God.
Jesus intercedes for us as our mediator before the Father; he asks him that his disciples may be one, “so that the world may believe” (Jn 17:21). This is what comforts us and inspires us to be one with Jesus, and thus to pray: “Grant us the gift of unity, so that the world may believe in the power of your mercy”. This is the testimony the world expects from us. We Christians will be credible witnesses of mercy to the extent that forgiveness, renewal and reconciliation are daily experienced in our midst. Together we can proclaim and manifest God’s mercy, concretely and joyfully, by upholding and promoting the dignity of every person. Without this service to the world and in the world, Christian faith is incomplete.
As Lutherans and Catholics, we pray together in this Cathedral, conscious that without God we can do nothing. We ask his help, so that we can be living members, abiding in him, ever in need of his grace, so that together we may bring his word to the world, which so greatly needs his tender love and mercy.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’ visit to Sweden for the joint commemoration of the Reformation comes as the culmination of 50 years of dialogue between Lutherans and Catholics, who’ll be recommitting themselves to shared witness and service.
That’s the view of the Lutheran World Federation’s Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations, Rev Dr Kaisamari Hintikka , who was closely involved in preparations for the events in the southern Swedish cities of Lund and Malmo.
The Pope and Lutheran leaders presided together on Monday at a prayer service in Lund cathedral before travelling together to a sports stadium in Malmo for a celebration of common commitment organised by the Catholic confederation Caritas Internationalis and by the Lutheran World Service.
Ahead of these historic events, Susy Hodges spoke to Rev Hintikka to find out more about the ecumenical significance of the Pope’s presence in Sweden…
Listen:
Rev Hintikka says it’s an event which has been building “over 50 years of faithful and careful dialogue and theological reflection by Lutherans and Catholics”. The significance “is not just about what we do in Lund”, she says, but about the “remarkable progress we’ve been able to make”.
She notes two key ecumenical documents of the past decades, the 1999 Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, and the 2013 booklet ‘From Conflict to Communion’ in which, for the first time, Lutherans and Catholics “tell the story of the Reformation together”. We want to build on that, she says, “through a stronger joint commitment to witness to the world and service to our neighbour”.
Speaking about the location of these events in Sweden, Rev Hintikka explains that while the Reformation has its roots deep in German and north European soil, it is a global Church today and Sweden is important as the place where the LWF was founded in 1947. Lund cathedral, she continues, has both a Catholic and a Lutheran history dating back a thousand years and the joint prayer service there is an attempt to bring those histories together.
Asked about those who question why Catholics should celebrate this anniversary, Rev Hintikka says it’s important to keep in mind that while we celebrate the gifts of the Reformation, it has also been the trigger for much hatred, violence and human suffering in Europe and beyond. We need to be able to learn from that history, she says, and to concentrate on “healing of the churches, of our relationships and of the world”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) As Pope Francis makes his 17th Apostolic visit to Sweden for a joint commemoration of the Reformation together with leaders of the Lutheran World Federation, the President of the Federation says he reciprocates the Pope’s feeling of closeness between the two Churches.
Listen to Philippa Hitchen’s interview with Bishop Munib Younan, President of the Lutheran World Federation
Bishop Munib Younan, speaking about his own personal hopes for the visit notes, “we have behind us fifty years of deep dialogue between the Lutheran Church and the Catholic Church and this dialogue is built on issues and this is the reason we sighed the joint declaration…” He also says this commemoration consolidates that closeness which shows “we are brothers and sisters in Christ”.
He stresses that, “the division of the past must not determine our future today” and like the Pope, he emphasizes the urgency of Christian unity because of those being persecuted and killed for their Christian faith in different parts of the world including the Middle East .
Bishop Younan says when he returns to the Middle East he wants to bring back with him a message of unity, underlining that, “only unity will strengthen the Churches in Jerusalem, in the Holy Land and in the whole Middle East. This unity is not our work, it is the work of the Holy Spirit and we must take it seriously.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has arrived in Sweden for a two-day apostolic journey where, together with the heads of the Lutheran World Federation he will jointly preside at an ecumenical prayer service in Lund cathedral, followed by a public witness event in the nearby city of Malmö.
On Tuesday morning, All Saints Day, the Pope will celebrate Mass in Malmö for Sweden’s tiny Catholic community.
Highlighting the importance of this apostolic journey to Sweden to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the protestant Reformation, the Pope asked journalists to help the public understand.
Greeting media professionals travelling on board the papal plane to Malmo on Monday morning, Pope Francis said: “This journey is important because it is an ecclesial journey, it’s very ecclesial in the field of ecumenism.
“Your work will be a big contribution in making sure people understand well” he said.
The formal occasion for the Pope’s visit to Sweden is to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The event comes as the culmination of years of theological progress, from the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification in 1999, to the publication of a shared history of the Reformation in the 2013 document ‘From Conflict to Communion’.
Before travelling to the Lutheran Cathedral of Lund for the joint ecumenical prayer service on Monday afternoon, an official welcome ceremony at Malmö International Airport saw state and religious authorities on the tarmac to receive Pope Francis.
As per protocol, the Prime Minister of the host country, Sweden’s Stefan Löfven, and the Minister of Culture and Democracy meet privately with the Pope at the Airport.
Also before the ecumenical service which is scheduled to begin at 2.15pm, the Pope will pay a courtesy visit to the Swedish King and Queen, Carl XVI Gustav and Silvia, at Lund’s Royal Palace (the Kungshuset).
(from Vatican Radio)…