(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis arrived back in Rome on Tuesday afternoon at the conclusion of his 17th Apsotolic journey abroad which took him to the southern Swedish cities of Lund and Malmo. Earlier in the day he celebrated Mass for the local Catholic community, urging them to follow in the footsteps of the saints of the past.But the two key events of trip took place the previous day, as the Pope joined Lutheran leaders for a common commemoration of the Protestant Reformation that divided Europe five centuries ago.Philippa Hitchen reports on the lasting impact this visit may have on the future of Lutheran-Catholic relations…Listen: While we can’t change the past, we can profoundly transform the way we remember it. That’s the message of the joint statement signed in Lund cathedral on Monday by Pope Francis and by Bishop Younan, president of the World Lutheran Federation.It’s also a theme at the heart of a 2013 Catholic-Lutheran publication called ‘Fro...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis arrived back in Rome on Tuesday afternoon at the conclusion of his 17th Apsotolic journey abroad which took him to the southern Swedish cities of Lund and Malmo. Earlier in the day he celebrated Mass for the local Catholic community, urging them to follow in the footsteps of the saints of the past.
But the two key events of trip took place the previous day, as the Pope joined Lutheran leaders for a common commemoration of the Protestant Reformation that divided Europe five centuries ago.
Philippa Hitchen reports on the lasting impact this visit may have on the future of Lutheran-Catholic relations…
Listen:
While we can’t change the past, we can profoundly transform the way we remember it. That’s the message of the joint statement signed in Lund cathedral on Monday by Pope Francis and by Bishop Younan, president of the World Lutheran Federation.
It’s also a theme at the heart of a 2013 Catholic-Lutheran publication called ‘From Conflict to Communion’ which laid the foundation for Monday’s historic events. In six short chapters, the book summarises ways in which historians have looked anew at the Reformation and seen how Luther didn’t want to divide the Church, but rather to reform and clean up what he saw as corrupt, clerical practises. A call that seems strikingly similar to Pope Francis’ denunciation of corruption and clericalism in the Church today. (Perhaps that’s why his critics like to call him ‘the Protestant Pope’).
The roots of this joyful yet poignant common commemoration stretch back over decades of patient, theological dialogue between what one Lutheran leader called ‘the bold prophets’ of the past. Those who worked tirelessly to overcome conflict and division, sometimes at the cost of their own lives.
The divisions of five centuries ago, of course, don’t mean much to the thousands of young people who cheered and sang as their Church leaders entered the packed arena. They’re struggling with the modern conflicts that are still tearing apart communities and taking lives in the Middle East, in Africa, in Asia or in Latin America. Five Catholics and Lutherans, men and women from those different continents spoke publically about the way their faith has given them courage to continue the struggle in the most difficult and dangerous circumstances. The Pope and the Lutheran president thanked them for their examples of commitment and service to those most in need.
Both the prayer service in the cathedral and the public event in the arena were moving and uplifting occasions – described by Bishop Younan as “a modern miracle of the Holy Spirit” who touched the hearts of the first disciples two thousand years ago in his native Jerusalem.
So do these events mean that Christian unity is just around the corner? That differences around our visions of Church, Eucharist and Ministry are suddenly overcome? That new arguments over women’s ordination or same-sex relationships are no longer important? No, these old and new issues will require the patient, unglamorous work of theologians for many years to come. But I do believe that Monday’s events model a new way of working together, a new style of engaging with differences and a new sense of shared Christian service, so desperately needed in today’s divided and suffering world.
Pope Francis waves while traveling by boat in Venice, Italy, for a meeting with young people at the Basilica della Madonna della Salute on April 28, 2024. Earlier in the day he met with inmates at a women's prison. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, Apr 28, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).Pope Francis opened his one-day visit to Venice on Sunday morning with a meeting with female inmates where he reaffirmed the importance of fraternity and human dignity, noting that prison can be a place of new beginnings. "A stay in prison can mark the beginning of something new, through the rediscovery of the unsuspected beauty in us and in others, as symbolized by the artistic event you are hosting and the project to which you actively contribute," the pope said to the female inmates gathered in the intimate courtyard of the Women's Prison on the Island of Giudecca. Pope Francis left the Vatican by helicopter at approximately 6:30 in the mo...
Pope Francis prays in front of the tomb of St. Mark the Evangelist inside St. Mark's Basilica in Venice on April 28, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, Apr 28, 2024 / 09:35 am (CNA).Pope Francis had a full slate of events Sunday during his day trip to Venice, a trip that tied together a message of unity and fraternity with the artistic patrimony of a city that has been a privileged place of encounter across the centuries. "Faith in Jesus, the bond with him, does not imprison our freedom. On the contrary, it opens us to receive the sap of God's love, which multiplies our joy, takes care of us like a skilled vintner, and brings forth shoots even when the soil of our life becomes arid," the pope said to over 10,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Mark's Square. Framing his homily during the Mass on the theme of unity, one of the central points articulated throughout several audiences spread across the morning, Pope Francis reminded Christians: "Remaining ...
Prayer house at San Simeone, Italy, September 2012. / Credit: Courtesy of Ricostruttori nella preghieraRome, Italy, Apr 28, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).Across Italy there are houses of prayer run by the Ricostruttori (Reconstructors) community, a Catholic movement dedicated to people who are far from the Church but attracted to spirituality, particularly Eastern meditation and Buddhist practices. The Reconstructors was founded in 1978 by Jesuit Father Gian Vittorio Cappelletto. "During the postconciliar period, the Church was faced with the need for new forms of evangelization and apostolate, to reach out to people who were drifting away," Don Roberto Rondanina, priest and superior of the Ricostruttori, explained to CNA. "It was a time when Eastern meditation, Hinduism, Buddhism, the New Age ... were beginning to spread in Europe." "Father Cappelletto, who lived in Turin, sought to understand the meaning of this 'flight to the East' and felt the need to find new forms of sp...