ecumenism" "
31 October 1999: representatives of the Catholic and Lutheran Churches signed the “Joint Declaration on the doctrine of justification” at Augsburg”. That same day, in his Angelus address in Rome, the Pope spoke of a “milestone on the difficult road of the restoration of full unity among Christians”. The Declaration in fact clarifies a controversy that had lasted some 480 years. Two years after that historic signing, ecumenical meetings have been held in Germany and in Switzerland not only to bring the document back to public attention but also to decide together how the process should be continued in future. At Brunswick (Germany), a round table was held with the participation of Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, and Bishop Christian Krause, president of the World Lutheran Federation. Both repeated their commitment to continue the ecumenical dialogue: Card. Kasper spoke of an “irrevocable and irreversible” commitment, Krause of a road on which “there is no turning back”. The other meeting was held in Bern, in Switzerland, where the Federation of the Protestant Churches and the Swiss Episcopal Conference gave a mandate to the Commission of dialogue to promote an academic colloquium on the joint Declaration. The meeting was attended by a hundred or so professors of theology who for two days discussed the real contribution that the Augsburg agreement gave to the ecumenical process and to future prospects.
