(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’ visit to Rome’s Lutheran church on Sunday reflects the “very good” ecumenical relations that have developed as Lutherans and Catholics prepare to commemorate together the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.
That’s the view of Rev Martin Junge, General Secretary of the World Lutheran Federation which is working together with the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity on a joint 500th anniversary event to be held in Sweden in October 2016.
The event will build on the substantial progress presented in the 2013 joint document ‘From Conflict to Communion’ designed as a resource for Catholics and Lutherans marking both 500 years since the Reformation and 50 years since the start of the official dialogue between the two global Christian communities. That publication presents new perspectives on the theology of Martin Luther, explores controversial questions such as indulgencies and sets out five ecumenical imperatives for witnessing to the Gospel together.
Rev Martin Junge talked to Philippa Hitchen about his hopes for the forthcoming anniversary event and about the importance of Pope Francis’ visit to the local Lutheran community in Rome….
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Rev Junge says he is very encouraged by the Pope’s visit to the local Lutheran congregation in Rome, following in the tradition begun by his predecessors, Benedict XVI and John Paul II. This tradition, he says, reflects the “very good moment of Lutheran-Catholic relations” at global level, following on from the publication, two years ago, of the joint document ‘From Conflict to Communion’ setting out the way in which Lutherans and Catholics will be marking the anniversary of the Reformation together.
The Lutheran leader says he’s also very encouraged that the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity has accepted the request to jointly host an ecumenical event to “express what we found out together in the dialogue report and make that public and accessible and visible and ‘experiencable’ for everybody”. That event will take place on October 31st 2016 and further details will be announced as the preparations progress.
Asked about the divisions and conflict provoked by the Reformation, Rev Junge says Catholics and Lutherans can now celebrate the Gospel together and also affirm the “positive contributions and insights that the Lutheran Reformation brought to the surface in the body of Christ”. However he says we cannot be blind to the divisions and the way in which those conflicts became aligned with the political struggles in Europe of that time, causing a lot of suffering to families and communities.
At the same time, he says, we want to “look ahead together into what is our common faith calling us” as we witness to the Gospel in our fragmented world, so in need of compassion, hope and encouragement….
(from Vatican Radio)…
At his Angelus address on Sunday Pope Francis reflected on the readings for this penultimate Sunday of the Church’s liturgical year which speak in apocalyptic terms about the coming of God’s kingdom at the ‘end times’.
The final goal of our lives here on earth, the Pope said, is our encounter with the Risen Christ. “How many of you think about that?” he asked the crowds gathered in a sunny St Peter’s Square. The problem is not when these apocalyptic warning signs of the end of this world will occur, he said, but whether we will be ready for that encounter. Similarly, the problem is not how the end of the world will happen, but how we should behave in the meantime.
We are called to live in the present, the Pope said, building the future with serenity, trust and hope in God. Hope, he said, is the hardest virtue to live out, but it is also the strongest as it reflects the face of the Risen Christ. Jesus is not only the final destination of our pilgrimage here on earth, Pope Francis said, but he is also present in our daily lives to accompany us and rescue us from false prophets and fatalistic ideas. Asking his audience how many of them read their horoscopes, the Pope said it is much better to look instead to Jesus, whose Word will guide us and who will always remain with us.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday condemned the violence and hatred behind the terror attacks in France which left 129 people dead and several hundred others injured. Speaking to the crowds gathered in St Peter’s Square for his weekly Angelus address, the Pope said he wished to express his deepest condolences to the French President and especially to all those whose family members were killed or wounded in the multiple attacks on Friday night.
Responsibility for the bombings and shootings at a stadium, a concert hall and several bars and restaurants has been claimed by so-called Islamic State extremists.
Pope Francis said such barbarity leaves us stunned as we wonder how human hearts can think up and carry out such atrocities which “have shocked not only France but the whole world”. The Pope stressed again that “the way of violence and hatred does not resolve the problems of humanity”, adding that whoever uses God’s name to justify that path is guilty of blasphemy.
Pope Francis invited all those listening to his words to join him in prayer, entrusting to God’s mercy the innocent victims of this tragedy. Leading the faithful in the recitation of the Ave Maria, he prayed that Mary, the Mother of Mercy, would inspire all our hearts with wisdom and peace.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Paris remains on high alert, in the wake of a coordinated series of terror attacks at different venues across the city that claimed at least 128 lives on Friday evening. Pope Francis condemned the violence, calling it “a piece” of the “piecemeal Third World War,” of which he has spoken on several occasions. The Holy Father’s statement came during the course of a live interview with the television station of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Tv2000.
The Holy Father has also sent a telegram expressing his condolences to the Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, in which he promised prayers for the victims and their families, as well as first responders and the whole people of France.
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The Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ, also issued a statement calling the violence, “[A]n attack on the peace of all mankind, which calls for a resolute and unified response on all our parts, in order that we might thwart the spread of murderous hatred in all its forms.” Fr. Lombardi returned to the point in an impromptu press conference at the Sala Stampa on Saturday, during which he said, “Murderous hatred is something that does not have an explanation. It is a negation of rationality, a negation of humanity, and there can be therefore no explanation for such [phenomena], save that of a profound wound, a completely erroneous vision of reality.”
The Archbishop of Paris has called for two days of prayer , and promised to celebrate Mass for the victims and for the French nation on Sunday evening in the Paris cathedral of Notre Dame. “Faced with the violence of men,” said Cardinal Vingt-Trois in a statement issued on Saturday, “may we receive the grace of a firm heart, without hatred. May the moderation, temperance and control that have been shown so far, be confirmed in the weeks and months to come; let no one indulge in panic or hatred. We ask that grace be the artisan of peace. We need never despair of peace if we build on justice.”
The terrorist organization calling itself the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks.
France’s President Francois Hollande addressed the nation shortly after the terror attacks began. “In these difficult moments,” he said, “we must – and I’m thinking of the many victims, their families and the injured – show compassion and solidarity. But we must also show unity and calm. Faced with terror, France must be strong, it must be great and the state authorities must be firm. We will be.”
Visiting the Bataclan theatre, where the deadliest single attack took place, Hollande said, “[W]e are going to lead a war which will be pitiless. Because when terrorists are capable of committing such atrocities they must be certain that they are facing a determined France, a united France, a France that is together and does not let itself be moved, even if today we express infinite sorrow.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) There is no justification, no explanation, for such acts of violence as were committed in Paris on Friday evening, for they are basically irrational and therefore offensive to human dignity. This was the message of the Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ, who spoke briefly with journalists in the Sala Stampa on Saturday afternoon, fielding questions in connection with the Paris attacks.
“Murderous hatred is something that does not have an explanation. It is a negation of rationality, a negation of humanity, and there can be therefore no explanation for such [phenomena], save that of a profound wound, a completely erroneous vision of reality,” said Fr. Lombardi.
Asked whether the attacks in Paris were attacks against Catholicism, Fr. Lombardi responded, “No: they were attacks against humanity.”
Fr. Lombardi went on to say that questions regarding increased security in and around the Vatican and the Holy Father would need to be addressed by those responsible.
(from Vatican Radio)…